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    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
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[Illustration: _H. Corbould._ _W. Chevalier._

_He ran every where in person to put a stop to the pillage and
slaughter._

_Chap. 13._]




                                  THE
                                HISTORY
                                  _OF_
                            PETER THE GREAT.

                             [Illustration:
                     _H. Corbould._ _W. Chevalier._

                    _Council him for his own safety,
                           not to pardon me._

                              _Chap. 36._]


                                London:

                   ENGRAVED FOR THE ENGLISH CLASSICS.

                   PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL JOHNSON & SON.
                              MANCHESTER.




                                  THE
                                HISTORY
                                   OF
                            PETER THE GREAT,
                           EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.


                      FROM THE FRENCH OF VOLTAIRE,
                              BY SMOLLETT.


                              MANCHESTER:
                S. JOHNSON & SON, No. 3, OLDHAM-STREET;
                     AND 48, CHURCH-ST., LIVERPOOL.

                               MDCCCXLV.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER

      I. Description of Russia.

     II. Continuation of the description of Russia, population,
           finances, armies, customs, religion: state of Russia before
           Peter the Great.

    III. The ancestors of Peter the Great.

     IV. John and Peter. Horrible Sedition among the Strelitzes.

      V. Administration of the princess Sophia. Extraordinary quarrel
           about religion. A conspiracy.

     VI. The reign of Peter the First.--Beginning of the grand
          reformation.

    VII. Congress and Treaty with the Chinese.

   VIII. Expedition to the Palus Mæotis; conquest of Azoph.--The czar
           sends young gentlemen into foreign countries for improvement.

     IX. Travels of Peter the Great.

      X. A conspiracy punished.--The corps of strelitzes abolished,
           alterations in customs, manners, church, and state.

     XI. War with Sweden.--The battle of Narva.

    XII. Resources after the battle of Narva. That disaster entirely
           repaired. Peter gains a victory near the same place. The
           person who was afterwards empress made prisoner at the
           storming of a town. Peter's successes. His triumph at Moscow.

   XIII. Reformation at Moscow.--Further successes.--Founding of
           Petersburg.--The czar takes Narva, &c.

    XIV. Peter the Great keeps possession of all Ingria, while Charles
           XII. is triumphant in other places.--Rise of
           Menzikoff.--Petersburg secured.--The czar executes his
           designs notwithstanding the victories of the king of Sweden.

     XV. While Peter is strengthening his conquests, and improving the
           police of his dominion, his enemy Charles XII. gains several
           battles: gives laws to Poland and Saxony, and to Augustus,
           notwithstanding a victory gained by the Russians.--Augustus
           resigns the crown, and delivers up Patkul, the czar's
           ambassador.--Murder of Patkul, who is sentenced to be broke
           upon the wheel.

    XVI. Attempts made to set up a third king of Poland.--Charles XII.
           sets out from Saxony with a powerful army, and marches through
           Poland in a victorious manner.--Cruelties committed.--Conduct
           of the czar.--Successes of the king of Sweden, who at length
           advances towards Russia.

   XVII. Charles XII. crosses the Boristhenes, penetrates into the
           Ukraine, but concerts his measures badly.--One of his armies
           is defeated by Peter the Great: he loses his supply of
           provisions and ammunition: advances forward through a desert
           country: his adventures in the Ukraine.

  XVIII. Battle of Pultowa.

    XIX. Consequences of the battle of Pultowa.--Charles XII. takes
           refuge among the Turks.--Augustus, whom he had dethroned,
           recovers his dominions.--Conquests of Peter the Great.

     XX. Campaign of Pruth.

    XXI. Conclusion of the Affairs of Pruth.

   XXII. Marriage of the czarowitz.--The marriage of Peter and Catherine
           publicly solemnized.--Catherine finds her brother.

  XXIII. Taking of Stetin.--Descent upon Finland.--Event of the year
           1712.

   XXIV. Successes of Peter the Great.--Return of Charles XII. into his
           own dominions.

    XXV. State of Europe at the return of Charles XII. Siege of
           Stralsund.

   XXVI. New travels of the czar.

  XXVII. Continuation of the Travels of Peter the Great.--Conspiracy of
           baron Gortz.--Reception of the czar in France.

 XXVIII. Of the return of the czar to his dominions.--Of his politics
           and occupations.

   XXIX. Proceedings against prince Alexis Petrowitz.

    XXX. Works and establishments in 1718, and the following years.

   XXXI. Of the trade of Russia.

  XXXII. Of the laws.

 XXXIII. Of Religion.

  XXXIV. The congress of Aland or Oeland. Death of Charles XII., &c. The
           treaty of Nystadt.

   XXXV. Conquests in Persia.

  XXXVI. Of the Coronation of the Empress Catherine I. and the Death of
           Peter the Great.


         Original Pieces Relative to this History:

         Sentence pronounced against the Czarowitz Alexis.

         The Peace of Nystadt.

         Ordinance of the Emperor Peter I. for the crowning of the
           Empress Catherine.




PETER THE GREAT.




CHAP. I.

    DESCRIPTION OF RUSSIA.


The empire of Russia is the largest in the whole globe, extending from
west to east upwards of two thousand common leagues of France,[1] and
about eight hundred in its greatest breadth from north to south. It
borders upon Poland and the Frozen Sea, and joins to Sweden and China.
Its length from the island of Dago, in the westernmost part of Livonia,
to its most eastern limits, takes in near one hundred and seventy
degrees, so that when it is noon in the western parts of the empire, it
is nearly midnight in the eastern. Its breadth from north to south is
three thousand six hundred wersts, which make eight hundred and fifty of
our common French leagues.

The limits of this country were so little known in the last century,
that, in 1689, when it was reported, that the Chinese and the Russians
were at war, and that in order to terminate their differences, the
emperor _Camhi_ on the one hand, and the czars Ivan or John, and Peter,
on the other, had sent their ministers to meet an embassy within three
hundred leagues of Pekin, on the frontiers of the two empires, the
account was at first treated as a fiction.

The country now comprehended under the name of Russia, or the Russias,
is of a greater extent than all the rest of Europe, or than ever the
Roman empire was, or that of Darius subdued by Alexander; for it
contains upwards of one million one hundred thousand square leagues.
Neither the Roman empire, nor that of Alexander, contained more than
five hundred and fifty thousand each; and there is not a kingdom in
Europe the twelfth part so extensive as the Roman empire; but to make
Russia as populous, as plentiful, and as well stored with towns as our
southern countries, would require whole ages, and a race of monarchs
such as Peter the Great.

The English ambassador, who resided at Petersburg in 1733, and who had
been at Madrid, says, in his manuscript relation, that in Spain, which
is the least populous state in Europe, there may be reckoned forty
persons to every square mile, and in Russia not above five. We shall see
in the second chapter, whether this minister was mistaken. Marshal
Vauban, the greatest of engineers, and the best of citizens, computes,
that, in France, every square mile contains two hundred inhabitants.
These calculations are never very exact, but they serve to shew the
amazing disproportion in the population of two different countries.

I shall observe here, that from Petersburg to Pekin, there is hardly one
mountain to be met with in the route which the caravans might take
through independent Tartary, and that from Petersburg to the north of
France, by the road of Dantzic, Hamburg, and Amsterdam, there is not
even a hill of any eminence to be seen. This observation leaves room to
doubt of the truth of that theory, which makes the mountains to have
been formed by the rolling of the waves of the sea, and supposes all
that is at present dry land, to have been for a long time covered with
water: but how comes it to pass, that the waves, which, according to the
supposition, formed the Alps, the Pyrenees, and Mount Taurus, did not
likewise form some eminence or hill from Normandy to China, which is a
winding space of above three thousand leagues? Geography, thus
considered, may furnish lights to natural philosophy, or at least give
room for rational doubts.

Formerly we called Russia by the name of Muscovy, from the city of
Moscow, the capital of that empire, and the residence of the grand
dukes: but at present the ancient name of Russia prevails.

It is not my business in this place to inquire, why the countries from
Smolensko, to the other side of Moscow, were called White Russia, or why
Hubner gives it the name of Black, nor for what reason the government of
Kiow should be named Red Russia.

It is very likely that Madies the Scythian, who made an irruption into
Asia, near seven hundred years before our vulgar æra, might have carried
his arms into these regions, as Gengis-Khan and Tamerlane did
afterwards, and as probably others had done long before Madies. Every
part of antiquity is not deserving of our inquiries; that of the
Chinese, the Indians, the Persians, and the Egyptians, is ascertained
from illustrious and interesting monuments; but these monuments suppose
others of a far more ancient date, since it required many ages to teach
men the art of transmitting their thoughts by permanent signs, and no
less time was required to form a regular language; and yet we have no
such monuments even in this polite part of Europe. The art of writing
was a long time unknown to all the North: the patriarch Constantine, who
wrote the history of Kiow in the Russian language, acknowledges, that
the use of writing was not known in these countries in the fifth
century.

Let others examine whether the Huns, the Slavi, and the Tartars,
formerly led their wandering and famished tribes towards the source of
the Boristhenes;[2] my design is to shew what czar Peter created, and
not to engage in a useless attempt, to clear up the chaos of antiquity.
We should always keep in mind, that no family upon earth knows its first
founder, and consequently, that no nation knows its first origin.

I use the name of Russians to designate the inhabitants of this great
empire. That of Roxolanians, which was formerly given them, would indeed
be more sonorous, but we shall conform to the custom of the language in
which we write. News-papers and other memoirs have for some time used
the word Russians; but as this name comes too near to that of Prussians,
I shall abide by that of Russ, which almost all our writers have given
them. Besides, it appeared to me, that the most extensive people on the
earth ought to be known by some appellation that may distinguish them
absolutely from all other nations.[3]

This empire is at present divided into sixteen large governments, that
will one day be subdivided, when the northern and eastern countries come
to be more inhabited.

These sixteen governments, which contain several immense provinces are
the following:--


LIVONIA.

The nearest province to our part of the world is that of Livonia, one of
the most fruitful in the whole North. In the twelfth century the
inhabitants were pagans; at this time certain merchants of Bremen and
Lubeck traded to this country, and a body of religious crusaders, called
_port-glaives_, or sword-bearers, who were afterwards incorporated in
the Teutonic order, made themselves masters of this province in the
thirteenth century, at the time when the fury of the crusades armed the
Christians against every one who was not of their religion. Albert,
margrave of Brandenburg, grand-master of these religious conquerors,
made himself sovereign of Livonia and of Brandenburg-Prussia, about the
year 1514. From that time, the Russians and Poles began to dispute for
the possession of this province. Soon afterwards it was invaded by the
Swedes, and for a long while continued to be ravaged by these several
powers. Gustavus Adolphus having conquered it, it was then ceded to the
Swedes in 1660, by the famous treaty of Oliva; and, at length, czar
Peter wrested it from these latter, as will be seen in the course of
this history.

Courland, which joins to Livonia, is still in vassalage to Poland,
though it depends greatly upon Russia. These are the western limits of
this empire in Christendom.


_Of the Governments of_ REVEL, PETERSBURG, _and_ WYBURG.

More northward is the government of Revel and Esthonia. Revel was built
by the Danes in the thirteenth century. The Swedes were in possession
of this province, from the time that country put itself under the
protection of that crown in 1561. This is another of the conquests of
Peter the Great.

On the borders of Esthonia lies the gulf of Finland. To the eastward of
this sea, and at the junction of the Neva with the lake Ladoga,[4] is
situated Petersburg, the most modern and best built city in the whole
empire, founded by czar Peter, in spite of all the united obstacles
which opposed its foundation.

This city is situated on the bay of Kronstat, in the midst of nine
rivers, by which its different quarters are divided. In the centre of
this city is almost an impregnable fortress, built on an island, formed
by the main-stream of the river Neva: seven canals are cut from the
rivers, and wash the walls of one of the royal palaces of the admiralty,
of the dock-yard for the galleys, and of several buildings of
manufactories. Thirty-five large churches contribute to adorn the city;
among which five are allotted for foreigners of the Roman Catholic,
Calvinist, and Lutheran religions: these are as so many temples raised
to toleration, and examples to other nations. There are five palaces;
the old one, called the summer palace, situated on the river Neva, has a
very large and beautiful stone balustrade, which runs all along the
river side. The new summer palace near the triumphal gate, is one of the
finest pieces of architecture in Europe. The admiralty buildings, the
school for cadets, the imperial college, the academy of sciences, the
exchange, and the merchants' warehouses, are all magnificent structures,
and monuments of taste and public utility. The town-house, the public
dispensary, where all the vessels are of porcelain, the court magazines,
the foundery, the arsenal, the bridges, the markets, the squares, the
barracks for the horse and foot guards, contribute at once to the
embellishment and safety of the city, which is said to contain at
present four hundred thousand souls. In the environs of the city are
several villas or country-seats, which surprise all travellers by their
magnificence. There is one in particular which has water-works superior
to those of Versailles. There was nothing of all this in 1702, the whole
being then an impassable morass. Petersburg is considered as the capital
of Ingria, a small province subdued by Peter I. Wyburg, another of his
conquests, and that part of Finland which was lost, and ceded by the
Swedes in 1742, make another government.


ARCHANGEL.

Higher up, proceeding towards the north, is the province of Archangel, a
country entirely new to the southern nations of Europe. It took its name
from St. Michael, the Archangel, under whose patronage it was put long
after the Russians had embraced Christianity, which did not happen till
the beginning of the eleventh century; and they were not known to the
other nations of Europe till the middle of the sixteenth. The English,
in 1533, endeavouring to find out a north-east passage to the East
Indies, Chancellor, captain of one of the ships fitted out for this
expedition, discovered the port of Archangel in the White Sea; at that
time it was a desert place, having only one convent, and a little
church, dedicated to St. Michael, the Archangel.

The English sailing up the river Dwina,[5] arrived at the midland part
of the country, and at length at Moscow. Here they easily made
themselves masters of the trade of Russia, which was removed from the
city of Novogorod, where it was carried on by land to this sea-port,
which is inaccessible indeed during seven months in the year; but,
nevertheless, this trade proved more beneficial to the empire than the
fairs of Novogorod, that had fallen to decay in consequence of the wars
with Sweden. The English obtained the privilege of trading thither
without paying any duties; a manner of trading which is apparently the
most beneficial to all nations. The Dutch soon came in for a share of
the trade of Archangel, then unknown to other nations.

Long before this time, the Genoese and Venetians had established a trade
with the Russians by the mouth of the Tanais or Don,[6] where they had
built a town called Tana. This branch of the Italian commerce was
destroyed by the ravages of Tamerlane, in that part of the world; but
that of Archangel continued, with great advantages both to the English
and Dutch, till the time that Peter the Great opened a passage into his
dominions by the Baltic Sea.


RUSSIAN LAPLAND.

_Of the Government of Archangel._

To the west of Archangel, and within its government, lies Russian
Lapland, the third part of this country, the other two belonging to
Sweden and Denmark. This is a very large tract, occupying about eight
degrees of longitude, and extending in latitude from one polar circle to
the North Cape[7]. The natives of this country were confusedly known to
the ancients, under the name of troglodytes and northern pigmies;
appellations suitable enough to men, who, for the most part, are not
above four feet and a half high, and dwell in caverns; they are just the
same people they were at that time. They are of a tawny complexion,
though the other people of the north are white, and for the most part
very low in stature; though their neighbours, and the people of Iceland,
under the polar circle, are tall: they seem made for their mountainous
country, being nimble, squat, and robust; their skins are hard, the
better to resist the cold, their thighs and legs are slender, their feet
small, to enable them to run more nimbly amongst the rocks, with which
their province is covered. They are passionately fond of their own
country, which none but themselves can be pleased with, and are able to
live no where else. Some have affirmed, upon the credit of Olaus, that
these people were originally natives of Finland, and that they removed
into Lapland, where they diminished in stature: but why might they not
as well have made choice of lands less northerly, where the conveniences
of life were to be had in greater plenty? How comes it that they differ
so totally from their pretended ancestors in features, figure, and
complexion? Methinks we might, with as great reason, suppose that the
grass which grows in Lapland is produced from that of Denmark, and that
the fishes, peculiar to their lakes, came from those of Sweden. It is
most likely that the Laplanders are, like their animals, the produce of
their own country, and that nature has made the one for the other.

Those who inhabit the frontiers of Finland, have adopted some of the
expressions of their neighbours, as happens to every people: but when
two nations give to things of common use, to objects which are
continually before their eyes, names absolutely different, it affords a
strong presumption, that one of them is not a colony from the other. The
Finlanders call a bear Karu, the Laplanders Muriet: the sun in the
Finnish language is called Auringa, in the Lapland tongue Beve. Here is
not the least analogy. The inhabitants of Finland, and Swedish Lapland,
formerly worshipped an idol whom they called Iumalac, and since the
reign of Gustavus Adolphus, to whom they are indebted for the
appellation of Lutherans, they call Jesus Christ the son of Iumalac. The
Muscovite or Russian Laplanders, are at present thought to be of the
Greek church; but those who wander about the mountains of the North
Cape, are satisfied with adoring one God under certain rude forms, as
has been the ancient custom of all the nations called Nomades, or
wandering nations.

This race of people, who are inconsiderable in numbers, have but very
few ideas, and are happy in not having more, which would only occasion
them to have new wants which they could not satisfy: at present they
live contented, and free from diseases, notwithstanding the excessive
coldness of their climate; they drink nothing but water, and attain to a
great age. The custom imputed to them of entreating strangers to lie
with their wives and daughters, which they esteem as an honour done to
them, probably arose from a notion of the superiority of strangers, and
a desire of amending, by their means, the defects of their own race.
This was a custom established amongst the virtuous Lacedemonians. A
husband would entreat a favour of a comely young man, to give him
handsome children, whom he might adopt. Jealousy, and the laws, prevent
the rest of mankind from giving their wives up to the embraces of
another; but the Laplanders have few or no laws, and are in all
probability, strangers to jealousy.


MOSCOW.

Ascending the river Dwina from north to south, we travel up the country
till we come to Moscow, the capital of the empire. This city was long
the centre of the Russian dominions, before they were extended on the
side of China and Persia.

Moscow, lying in 55 degrees and a half, north latitude, in a warmer
climate, and more fruitful soil than that of Petersburg, is situated in
the midst of a large and delightful plain on the river Moskwa, and two
lesser rivers, which with the former lose themselves in the Occa, and
afterwards help to swell the stream of the Wolga. This city, in the 13th
century, was only a collection of huts inhabited by a set of miserable
wretches, oppressed by the descendants of Gengis Khan.

The Kremlin, or ancient palace of the great dukes, was not built till
the 14th century; of such modern date are cities in this part of the
world. This palace was built by Italian architects, as were several
churches in the Gothic taste which then prevailed throughout all Europe.
There are two built by the famous Aristotle, of Bologna, who flourished
in the 15th century; but the private houses were no better than wooden
huts.

The first writer who brought us acquainted with Moscow, was Olearius;
who, in 1633, went thither as the companion of an embassy from the duke
of Holstein. A native of Holstein must naturally be struck with wonder
at the immense extent of the city of Moscow, with its five quarters,
especially the magnificent one belonging to the czars, and with the
Asiatic splendour which then reigned at that court. There was nothing
equal to it in Germany at that time, nor any city by far so extensive or
well peopled.

On the contrary, the earl of Carlisle, who was ambassador from Charles
II. to the czar Alexis, in 1633, complains in his relation that he could
not meet with any one convenience of life in Moscow; no inns on the
road, nor refreshments of any kind. One judged as a German, the other as
an Englishman, and both by comparison. The Englishman was shocked to see
most of the Boyards or Muscovite noblemen, sleep upon boards or benches,
with only the skins of animals under them; but this was the ancient
practice of all nations. The houses, which were almost all built of
wood, had scarcely any furniture, few or none of their tables were
covered with cloth; there was no pavement in the streets; nothing
agreeable; nothing convenient; very few artificers, and those few
extremely awkward, and employed only in works of absolute necessity.
These people might have passed for Spartans, had they been sober.

But, on public days, the court displays all the splendour of a Persian
monarch. The earl says, he could see nothing but gold and precious
stones on the robes of the czar and his courtiers. These dresses were
not manufactured in the country; and yet, it is evident, that the people
might be rendered industrious long before that time. In the reign of the
czar Boris Godonow, the largest bell was cast at Moscow, in Europe; and
in the patriarchal church there were several ornaments in silver, worked
in a very curious manner. These pieces of workmanship, which were made
under the direction of Germans and Italians, were only transient
efforts. It is daily industry, and the continual exercise of a great
number of arts, that makes a nation flourishing. Poland, and the
neighbouring nations, were at that time very little superior to the
Russians. The handicraft trades were not in greater perfection in the
north of Germany, nor were the polite arts much better known, than in
the middle of the seventeenth century.

Though the city of Moscow, at that time, had neither the magnificence
nor arts of our great cities in Europe, yet its circumference of twenty
miles; the part called the Chinese town, where all the rarities of China
are exhibited; the spacious quarter of the Kremlin, where stood the
palace of the czars; the gilded domes, the lofty and conspicuous
turrets; and, lastly, the prodigious number of its inhabitants,
amounting to near 500,000. All this together, rendered Moscow one of the
most considerable cities in the world.

Theodore, or Foedor, eldest brother to Peter the Great, began to
improve Moscow. He ordered several large houses to be built of stone,
though without any regular architecture. He encouraged the principal
persons of his court to build, advancing them sums of money, and
furnishing them with materials. He was the first who collected studs of
fine horses, and made several useful embellishments. Peter, who was
attentive to every thing, did not neglect Moscow at the time he was
building Petersburg; for he caused it to be paved, adorned it with noble
edifices, and enriched it with manufactures; and, within these few
years, M. de Showalow, high chamberlain to the empress Elizabeth,
daughter to Peter the Great, has founded an university in this city.
This is the same person who furnished me with the memorials, from which
I have compiled the present history, and who was himself much more
capable to have done it, even in the French language, had not his great
modesty determined him to resign the task to me, as will evidently
appear from his own letters on this subject, which I have deposited in
the public library of Geneva.


SMOLENSKO.

Westward of the duchy of Moscow, is that of Smolensko, a part of the
ancient Sarmatia Europea. The duchies of Moscow and Smolensko composed
what is properly called White Russia. Smolensko, which at first belonged
to the great dukes of Russia, was conquered by the great duke of
Lithuania, in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and was retaken
one hundred years afterwards by its old masters. Sigismund III. king of
Poland, got possession of it in 1611. The czar Alexis, father of Peter
I. recovered it again in 1654, since which time it has always
constituted part of the Russian empire. The panegyric of Peter the
Great, pronounced in the academy of sciences at Paris, takes notice,
that before his time the Russians had made no conquests either to the
west or south; but this is evidently a mistake.


_Of the Governments of_ NOVOGOROD _and_ KIOW, _or the_ UKRAINE.

Between Petersburg and Smolensko, lies the province of Novogorod;[8] and
is said to be the country in which the ancient _Slavi_, or Sclavonians,
made their first settlements. But from whence came these _Slavi_, whose
language has spread over all the north-east part of Europe? _Sla_
signifies a chief, and _slave_ one belonging to a chief. All that we
know concerning these ancient _Slaves_ is, that they were a race of
conquerors; that they built the city of Novogorod the Great, at the head
of a navigable river; and that this city was for a long time in
possession of a flourishing trade, and was a potent ally to the Hanse
Towns. Czar Iwan Wassiliawitsch (or John Basilowitz) made a conquest of
it in 1467, and carried away all its riches, which contributed to the
magnificence of the court of Moscow, till then almost unknown.

To the south of the province of Smolensko, we meet with the province of
Kiow, otherwise called the Lesser Russia, Red Russia, or the Ukraine,
through which runs the Dnieper, called by the Greeks the Boristhenes.
The difference of these two names, the one so harsh to pronounce, and
the other so melodious, served to shew us, together with a hundred other
like instances, the rudeness of all the ancient people of the North, in
comparison with the graces of the Greek language. Kiow, the capital
city, formerly Kisow, was built by the emperors of Constantinople, who
made it a colony: here are still to be seen several Greek inscriptions
upwards of twelve hundred years old. This is the only city of any
antiquity in these countries, where men lived so long together without
building walls. Here it was that the great dukes of Russia held their
residence in the eleventh century, before the Tartars brought it under
their subjection.

The inhabitants of the Ukraine, called Cossacks, are a mixture of the
ancient Roxolanians, Sarmatians, and Tartars, blended together. Rome and
Constantinople, though so long the mistress of other nations, are not to
compare in fertility of country with the Ukraine. Nature has there
exerted her utmost efforts for the service of mankind; but they have not
seconded those efforts by industry, living only upon the spontaneous
productions of an uncultivated, but fruitful soil, and the exercise of
rapine. Though fond, to a degree of enthusiasm, of that most valuable of
all blessings, liberty; yet they were always in subjection, either to
the Poles or to the Turks, till the year 1654, when they threw
themselves into the arms of Russia, but with some limitations. At length
they were entirely subdued by Peter the Great.

Other nations are divided into cities and towns; this into ten
regiments. At the head of which is a chief, who used to be elected by a
majority of votes, and is called by the name of Hetman, or Itman. This
captain of the nation was not invested with supreme power. At present
the itman is a person nominated by the czar, from among the great lords
of the court; and is, in fact, no more that the governor of the
province, like governors of the _pays d'etats_ in France, that have
retained some privileges.

At first the inhabitants of this country were all either Pagans or
Mahometans; but, when they entered into the service of Poland, they
were baptized Christians of the Roman communion; and now, that they are
in the service of Russia, they belong to the Greek church.

Amongst these are comprehended the Zaporavian Cossacks, who are much the
same as our Bucaniers, or freebooters, living upon rapine. They are
distinguished from all other people, by never admitting women to live
among them; as the Amazons are said never to have admitted any man. The
women, whom they make use of for propagation, live upon other islands on
the river; they have no marriages amongst them, nor any domestic
economy; they inroll the male children in their militia, and leave the
girls to the care of their mothers. A brother has frequently children by
his sister, and a father by his daughter. They know no other laws than
customs, introduced by necessity: however, they make use of some prayers
from the Greek ritual. Fort St. Elizabeth has been lately built on the
Boristhenes, to keep them in awe. They serve as irregulars in the
Russian armies, and hapless is the fate of those who fall into their
hands.


_Of the Governments of_ BELGOROD, WORONITZ, _and_ NISCHGOROD.

To the north-east of the province of Kiow, between the Boristhenes and
the Tanais, or Don, is the government of Belgorod, which is as large as
that of Kiow. This is one of the most fruitful provinces of Russia, and
furnishes Poland with a prodigious number of that large cattle known by
the name of Ukraine oxen. These two provinces are secured from the
incursions of the petty Tartar tribes, by lines extending from the
Boristhenes to the Tanais, and well furnished with forts and redoubts.

Farther northward we cross the Tanais, and come into the government of
Worownitz, or Veronise, which extends as far as the banks of the Palus
Mæotis. In the neighbourhood of the capital of this province, which is
called, by the Russians, Woronestch, at the mouth of the river of the
same name, which falls into the Don, Peter the Great built his first
fleet; an undertaking which was at that time entirely new to the
inhabitants of these vast dominions. From thence we come to the
government of Nischgorod, abounding with grain, and is watered by the
river Wolga.


ASTRACAN.

From the latter province we proceed southward to the kingdom of
Astracan. This country reaches from forty-three and a half degrees north
latitude (in a most delightful climate) to near fifty, including about
as many degrees of longitude as of latitude. It is bounded on one side
by the Caspian Sea, and on the other by the mountains of Circassia,
projecting beyond the Caspian, along mount Caucasus. It is watered by
the great river Wolga, the Jaick, and several other lesser streams,
between which, according to Mr. Perry, the English engineer, canals
might be cut, that would serve as reservoirs to receive the overflowing
of the waters; and by that means answer the same purposes as the canals
of the Nile, and make the soil more fruitful: but to the right and left
of the Wolga and Jaick, this fine country was inhabited, or rather
infested, by Tartars, who never apply themselves to agriculture, but
have always lived as strangers and sojourners upon the face of the
earth.

The above named engineer, Perry, who was employed by Peter the Great in
these parts, found a vast track of land covered with pasture, leguminous
plants, cherry and almond trees, and large flocks of wild sheep, who fed
in these solitary places, and whose flesh was excellent. The inhabitants
of these countries must be conquered and civilized, in order to second
the efforts of nature, who has been forced in the climate of Petersburg.

The kingdom of Astracan is a part of the ancient Capshak, conquered by
Gengis-Khan, and afterwards by Tamerlane, whose dominion extended as far
as Moscow. The czar, John Basilides, grandson of John Basilowitz, and
the greatest conqueror of all the Russian princes, delivered his country
from the Tartarian yoke, in the sixteenth century, and added the kingdom
of Astracan to his other conquests, in 1554.

Astracan is the boundary of Asia and Europe, and is so situated as to be
able to carry on a trade with both; as merchandizes may be conveyed from
the Caspian Sea, up to this town, by means of the Wolga. This was one of
the grand schemes of Peter the Great, and has been partly carried into
execution. An entire suburb of Astracan is inhabited by Indians.


OREMBURG.

To the south-east of the kingdom of Astracan, is a small country, newly
planted, called Oremburg. The town of this name was built in the year
1734, on the banks of the river Jaick. This province is thick covered
with hills, that are parts of Mount Caucasus. The passes in these
mountains, and of the rivers that run down from them, are defended by
forts raised at equal distances. In this region, formerly uninhabited,
the Persians come at present, to hide from the rapacity of robbers,
such of their effects as have escaped the fury of the civil wars. The
city of Oremburg is become the asylum of the Persians and their riches,
and is grown considerable by their calamities. The natives of Great
Bukari come hither to trade, so that it is become the mart of Asia.


_Of the Government of_ CASAN, _and of_ GREAT PERMIA.

Beyond the Wolga and Jaick, towards the north, lies the kingdom of
Casan, which, like that of Astracan, fell by partition to one of the
sons of Gengis Khan, and afterwards to a son of Tamerlane, and was at
length conquered by John Basilides. It is still inhabited by a number of
Mahometan Tartars. This vast country stretches as far as Siberia; it is
allowed to have been formerly very flourishing and rich, and still
retains some part of its pristine opulence. A province of this kingdom,
called Great Permia, and since Solikam, was the staple for the
merchandizes of Persia, and the furs of Tartary. There has been found in
Permia a great quantity of the coin of the first Caliphs, and some
Tartarian idols, made of gold;[9] but these monuments of ancient
opulence were found in the midst of barren deserts and extreme poverty,
where there were not the least traces of commerce: revolutions of this
nature may easily happen to a barren country, seeing they are so soon
brought about in the most fruitful provinces.

The famous Swedish prisoner, Strahlemberg, who made such advantageous
use of his misfortunes, and who examined those extensive countries with
so much attention, was the first who gave an air of probability to a
fact, which before had been always thought incredible; namely,
concerning the ancient commerce of these provinces. Pliny and Pomponius
Mela relate, that, in the reign of Augustus, a king of the Suevi made a
present to Metellus Celer of some Indians who had been cast by a storm
upon the coasts bordering on the Elbe. But how could inhabitants of
India navigate the Germanic seas? This adventure was deemed fabulous by
all our moderns, especially after the change made in the commerce of our
hemisphere by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. But formerly it
was no more extraordinary to see an Indian trading to the parts to the
north west of his country, than to see a Roman go from India by the way
of Arabia. The Indians went to Persia, and thence embarked on the
Hyrcanian Sea, and ascending the Rha, now the Wolga, got to Great Permia
through the river Kama; from whence they might take shipping again on
the Black Sea, or the Baltic. They have, in all times, been enterprising
men. The Tyrians undertook most surprising voyages.

If after surveying all these vast provinces, we direct our view towards
the east, we shall find the limits of Europe and Asia again confounded.
A new name is wanting for a considerable part of the globe. The ancients
divided their known world into Europe, Asia, and Africa: but they had
not seen the tenth part of it: hence it happens, that when we pass the
Palus Mæotis we are at a loss to know where Europe ends, or Asia begins;
all that tract of country lying beyond mount Taurus was distinguished by
the general appellation of Scythia, and afterwards by that of Tartary.
It might not be improper, perhaps, to give the name of Terræ Arcticæ,
or Northern Lands, to the country extending from the Baltic Sea to the
confines of China; as that of Terræ Australes, or Southern Lands, are to
that equally extensive part of the world, situated under the Antarctic
Pole, and which serves to counterpoise the globe.


_Of the Governments of_ SIBERIA, _of the_ SAMOJEDES, _the_ OSTIAKS
KAMTSHATKA, _&c._

Siberia, with the territories beyond it, extends from the frontiers of
the provinces of Archangel, Casan, and Astracan, eastward as far as the
sea of Japan: it joined the southern parts of Russia by Mount Caucasus;
from thence, to the country of Kamtshatka, is about one thousand two
hundred computed French leagues; and from southern Tartary, which serves
as its boundary, to the Frozen Sea, about four hundred, which is the
least breadth of the Russian empire. This country produces the richest
furs; and this occasioned the discovery of it in the year 1563.

In the sixteenth century, in the reign of the czar, John Basilides,
and not in that of Foedor Johannowitz, a private person in the
neighbourhood of Archangel, named Anika, one tolerably rich for his
condition of life and country, took notice that certain men of an
extraordinary figure, and dressed in a manner unknown to that country,
and who spoke a language understood by none but themselves, came every
year down a river which falls into the Dwina,[10] and brought martens
and black foxes, which they trucked for nails and pieces of glass; just
as the first savages of America used to exchange their gold with the
Spaniards: he caused them to be followed by his sons and servants, as
far as their own country. These were the Samojedes, a people who seem
to resemble the Laplanders, but are of a different race. They are, like
that people, unacquainted with the use of bread; and like them, they
yoke rein-deer to draw their sledges. They live in caverns and huts,
amidst the snow;[11] but in other respects, nature has made a visible
difference between this species of men and the Laplanders. Their upper
jaw projects forward, so as to be on a level with their nose, and their
ears are placed higher. Both the men and women have no hair in any other
part of their bodies, but their heads; and their nipple is of a deep
black, like ebony. The Lapland men and women are distinguished by no
such marks. By memoirs sent from these countries so little known, I have
been informed, that the author of the curious natural history of the
king's garden, is mistaken, where, in speaking of the many curiosities
of human nature, he confounds the Lapland race with that of the
Samojedes. There are many more different species of men than is commonly
thought. The Samojedes, and the Hottentots, seem to be the two extremes
of our continent; and if we observe the black nipples of the Samojedian
women, and the apron with which nature has furnished the Hottentot
females, and which hangs half way down their thighs, we may have some
idea of the great variety of our animal species, a variety unknown to
those inhabiting great cities, who are generally strangers to almost
every thing that is not immediately within their view.

The Samojedes are as singular in their moral as in their physical
distinctions; they pay no worship to the Supreme Being; they border upon
Manicheism, or rather upon the religion of the ancient Magi in this one
point, that they acknowledge a good and an evil principle. The horrible
climate they inhabit may in some measure excuse this belief, which is of
such ancient date, and so natural to those who are ignorant and unhappy.

Theft, or murder, is never heard of amongst them; being in a manner
devoid of passions, they are strangers to injustice; they have no terms
in their language to denote vice and virtue, their extreme simplicity
has not yet permitted them to form abstract ideas, they are wholly
guided by pensation, and this is perhaps an incontestable proof that men
naturally love justice, when not blinded by inordinate passions.

Some of these savages were prevailed on to suffer themselves to be
carried to Moscow, where many things they saw struck them with
admiration. They gazed upon the emperor as their god, and voluntarily
engaged for themselves and countrymen a present of two martens, or
sables, every year for each inhabitant. Colonies were soon settled
beyond the Oby,[12] and the Irtis,[13] and some forts built. In the year
1595, a Cossack officer was sent into this country, who conquered it for
the czar with only a few soldiers and some artillery, as Cortez did
Mexico; but he only made a conquest of barren deserts.

In sailing up the Oby to the junction of the river Irtis with the Tobol,
they found a petty settlement, which they converted into the town of
Tobol,[14] now the capital of Siberia, and a considerable place. Who
could imagine that this country was for a long time the residence of
those very Huns, who under Attila carried their depredations as far as
the gates of Rome, and that these Huns came from the north of China? The
Usbeck Tartars succeeded the Huns, and the Russians the Usbecks. The
possession of these savage countries has been disputed with as much
murderous fury, as that of the most fruitful provinces. Siberia was
formerly better peopled than it is at present, especially towards the
southern parts; if we may judge from the rivers and sepulchral
monuments.

All this part of the world, from the sixtieth degree of latitude, or
thereabouts, as far as those mountains of perpetual ice which border the
north seas, is totally different from the regions of the temperate zone,
the earth produces neither the same plants, nor the same animals, nor
are there the same sort of fishes in their lakes and rivers.

Below the country of the Samojedes lies that of the Ostiaks, along the
river Oby. These people have no resemblance in any respect with the
Samojedes, save that like them and all the first race of men, they are
hunters, fishermen, and shepherds; some of them have no religion, not
being formed into any society, and the others who live together in herds
or clans, have a kind of worship, and pray to the principal object of
their wants; they adore the skin of a sheep, because this creature is of
all others the most serviceable to them; just as the Egyptian husbandmen
made choice of an ox, as an emblem of the Deity who created that
creature for the use of man.

The Ostiaks have likewise other idols, whose origin and worship are as
little deserving our notice as their worshippers. There were some
converts to Christianity made amongst them in the year 1712; but these,
like the lowest of our peasants, are Christians without knowing what
they profess. Several writers pretend that these people were natives of
Great Permia, but as Great Permia is in a manner a desert, how comes it
that its inhabitants should settle themselves at such a distance, and so
inconveniently? This is a difficulty not worth clearing up. Every nation
which has not cultivated the polite arts, deserves to remain in
obscurity.

In the country of the Ostiaks in particular, and amongst their
neighbours the Burates and Jakutians, they often discover a kind of
ivory under ground, the nature of which is as yet unknown. Some take it
to be a sort of fossil, and others the tooth of a species of elephants,
the breed of which have been destroyed: but where is the country that
does not afford some natural productions, which at once astonish and
confound philosophy.

Several mountains in this country abound with the amianthes or asbestos,
a kind of incombustible flax, of which a sort of cloth and paper is
sometimes made.

To the south of the Ostiaks are the Burates, another people, who have
not yet been made Christians. Eastward there are several hordes, whom
the Russians have not as yet entirely subdued.

None of these people have the least knowledge of the calendar: they
reckon their time by snows, and not by the apparent motion of the sun:
as it snows regularly, and for a long time every winter, they say, 'I am
so many snows old,' just as we say, I am so many years.

And here I must relate the accounts given by the Swedish officer
Strahlemberg, who was taken prisoner in the battle of Pultowa, and lived
fifteen years in Siberia, and made the entire tour of that country. He
says, that there are still some remains of an ancient people, whose skin
is spotted or variegated with different colours, and that he himself had
seen some of them, and the fact has been confirmed to me by Russians
born at Tobolsky. The variety of the human species seems to be greatly
diminished, as we find very few of these extraordinary people, and they
have probably been exterminated by some other race: for instance there
are very few Albinos, or White Moors; one of them was presented to the
academy of sciences at Paris, which I saw. It is the same with respect
to several other species of animals which are rare.

As to the Borandians, of whom mention is made so frequently in the
learned history of the king's garden, my memoirs say, that this race of
people is entirely unknown to the Russians.

All the southern part of these countries is peopled by numerous hordes
of Tartars. The ancient Turks came from this part of Tartary to conquer
these extensive countries, of which they are at present in possession.
The Calmucs and Monguls are the very Scythians who, under Madies, made
themselves masters of Upper Asia, and conquered Cyaxares, king of the
Medes. They are the men, whom Gengis Khan and his sons led afterwards as
far as Germany, and was termed the Mogul empire under Tamerlane. These
people afford a lively instance of the vicissitudes which have happened
to all nations; some of their hordes, so far from being formidable now,
are become vassals to Russia.

Among these is a nation of Calmucs, dwelling between Siberia and the
Caspian Sea, where, in the year 1720, there was discovered a
subterraneous house of stone, with urns, lamps, earrings, an equestrian
statue of an oriental prince, with a diadem on his head, two women
seated on thrones, and a roll of manuscripts, which were sent by Peter
the Great to the academy of inscriptions at Paris, and proved to be
written in the Thibet language: all these are striking proofs, that the
liberal arts formerly resided in this now barbarous country, and are
lasting evidences of the truth of what Peter the Great was wont several
times to say, viz. that the arts had made the tour of the globe.

The last province is Kamtshatka, the most eastern part of the continent.
The inhabitants were absolutely void of all religion when they were
first discovered. The north part of this country likewise affords fine
furs, with which the inhabitants clothed themselves in winter, though
they went naked all the summer season. The first discoverers were
surprised to find in the southern parts men with long beards, while in
the northern parts, from the country of the Samojedes, as far as the
mouth of the river Amur, they have no more beards than the Americans.
Thus, in the empire of Russia, there is a greater number of different
species, more singularities, and a greater diversity of manners and
customs, than in any country in the known world.

The first discovery of this country was made by a Cossack officer, who
went by land from Siberia to Kamtshatka, in 1701, by order of Peter the
Great, who, notwithstanding his misfortune at Narva, still continued to
extend his care from one extremity of the continent to the other.
Afterwards, in 1725, some time before death surprised him, in the midst
of his great exploits, he sent Captain Bering, a Dane, with express
orders to find out, if possible, a passage by the sea of Kamtshatka, to
the coast of America. Bering did not succeed in his first attempt; but
the empress Anne sent him out again in 1733. M. Spengenberg, captain of
a ship, his associate in this voyage, set out the first from Kamtshatka,
but could not put to sea till the year 1739, so much time was taken up
in getting to the port where they were to embark, in building and
fitting out the ships, and providing the necessaries. Spengenberg sailed
as far as the north part of Japan, through a streight, formed by a long
chain of islands, and returned without having discovered the passage.

In 1741, Bering cruised all over this sea, in company with De Lisle de
la Croyere, the astronomer, of the same family of L'Isle, which has
produced such excellent geographers: another captain likewise went upon
the same discovery. They both made the coast of America, to the
northward of California. Thus the north-east passage, so long sought
after, was at length discovered, but there were no refreshments to be
met with in those barren coasts. Their fresh water failed them, and part
of the crew perished with the scurvy. They saw the northern bank of
California for above a hundred miles, and saw some leathern canoes, with
just such a sort of people in them as the Canadians. All their
endeavours however proved fruitless: Bering ended his life in an island,
to which he gave his name. The other captain, happening to be closer in
with the Californian coast, sent ten of his people on shore, who never
returned. The captain, after waiting for them in vain, found himself
obliged to return back to Kamtshatka, and De Lisle died as he was going
on shore. Such are the disasters that have generally attended every new
attempt upon the northern seas. But what advantages may yet arise from
these powerful and dangerous discoveries, time alone can prove.

We have now described all the different provinces that compose the
Russian dominions, from Finland to the sea of Japan. The largest parts
of this empire have been all united at different times, as has been the
case in all other kingdoms in the world. The Scythians, Huns,
Massagetes, Slavians, Cimbrians, Getes, and Sarmatians, are now subjects
of the czar. The Russians, properly so called, are the ancient Roxolani
or Slavi.

Upon reflection, we shall find that most states were formed in the same
manner. The French are an assemblage of Goths, of Danes called Normands,
of northern Germans, called Burgundians; of Franks, Allmans, and some
Romans, mixed with the ancient Celtæ. In Rome and Italy there are
several families descended from the people of the North, but none that
we know of from the ancient Romans. The supreme pontiff is frequently
the offspring of a Lombard, a Goth, a Teuton, or a Cimbrian. The
Spaniards are a race of Arabs, Carthaginians, Jews, Tyrians, Visigoths,
and Vandals, incorporated with the ancient inhabitants of the country.
When nations are thus intermixed, it is a long time before they are
civilized, or even before their language is formed. Some, indeed,
receive these sooner, others later. Polity and the liberal arts are so
difficult to establish, and the new raised structure is so often
destroyed by revolutions, that we may wonder all nations are not so
barbarous as Tartars.




CHAP. II.

    Continuation of the description of Russia, population, finances,
    armies, customs, religion: state of Russia before Peter the Great.


The more civilized a country is, the better it is peopled. Thus China
and India are more populous than any other empires, because, after a
multitude of revolutions, which changed the face of sublunary affairs,
these two nations made the earliest establishments in civil society: the
antiquity of their government, which has subsisted upwards of four
thousand years, supposes, as we have already observed, many essays and
efforts in preceding ages. The Russians came very late; but the arts
having been introduced amongst them in their full perfection, it has
happened, that they have made more progress in fifty years, than any
other nation had done before them in five hundred. The country is far
from being populous, in proportion to its extent; but, such as it is, it
has as great a number of inhabitants as any other state in Christendom.
From the capitation lists, and the register of merchants, artificers,
and male peasants, I might safely assert, that Russia, at present,
contains at least twenty-four millions of male inhabitants: of these
twenty-four millions, the greatest part are villains or bondmen, as in
Poland, several provinces of Germany, and formerly throughout all
Europe. The estate of a gentleman in Russia and Poland is computed, not
by his increase in money, but by the number of his slaves.

The following is a list, taken in 1747, of all the males who paid the
capitation or poll-tax:--

  Merchants or tradesmen                                        198000

  Handicrafts                                                    16500

  Peasants incorporated with the merchants and handicrafts        1950

  Peasants called Odonoskis, who contribute to maintain the
    militia                                                     430220

  Others who do not contribute thereto                           26080

  Workmen of different trades, whose parents are not known        1000

  Others who are not incorporated with the companies of
    tradesmen                                                     4700

  Peasants immediately dependent on the crown, about            555000

  Persons employed in the mines belonging to the crown,
    partly Christians, partly Mahometans and Pagans              64000

  Other peasants belonging to the crown, who work in the
    mines, and in private manufactories                          24200

  New converts to the Greek church                               57000

  Tartars and Ostiaks (peasants)                                241000

  Mourses, Tartars, Mordauts, and others, whether Pagans
    or Christians, employed by the admiralty                      7800

  Tartars subject to contribution, called Tepteris,
    Bobilitz, &c.                                                28900

  Bondmen to several merchants, and other privileged persons,
    who though not landholders, are allowed to have slaves        9100

  Peasants in the lands set apart for the support of the crown  418000

  Peasants on the lands belonging to her majesty,
    independently of the rights of the crown                     60500

  Peasants on the lands confiscated to the crown                 13600

  Bondmen belonging to the assembly of the clergy, and who
    defray other expenses                                        37500

  Bondmen belonging to gentlemen                               3550000

  Bondmen belonging to bishops                                  116400

  Bondmen belonging to convents, whose numbers were reduced
    by Peter the Great                                          721500

  Bondmen belonging to cathedral and parish churches             23700

  Peasants employed as labourers in the docks of the
    admiralty, or in other public works, about                    4000

  Labourers in the mines, and in private manufactures            16000

  Peasants on the lands assigned to the principal
    manufactures                                                 14500

  Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown                   3000

  Bastards brought up by the clergy                                 40

  Sectaries called Raskolniky                                     2200
                                                               -------
                                                       Total   6646390
                                                               -------

Here we have a round number of six millions six hundred forty-six
thousand three hundred and ninety male persons, who pay the poll-tax. In
this number are included boys and old men, but girls and women are not
reckoned, nor boys born between the making of one register of the lands
and another. Now, if we only reckon triple the number of heads subject
to be taxed, including women and girls, we shall find near twenty
millions of souls.

To this number we may add the military list, which amounts to three
hundred and fifty thousand men: besides, neither the nobility nor
clergy, who are computed at two hundred thousand, are subject to this
capitation.

Foreigners, of whatever country or profession, are likewise exempt: as
also the inhabitants of the conquered countries, namely, Livonia,
Esthonia, Ingria, Carelia, and a part of Finland, the Ukraine, and the
Don Cossacks, the Calmucks, and other Tartars, Samojedes, the
Laplanders, the Ostiaks, and all the idolatrous people of Siberia, a
country of greater extent than China.

By the same calculation, it is impossible that the total of the
inhabitants of Russia should amount to less than twenty-four millions.
At this rate, there are eight persons to every square mile. The English
ambassador, whom I have mentioned before, allows only five; but he
certainly was not furnished with such faithful memoirs as those with
which I have been favoured.

Russia therefore is exactly five times less populous than Spain, but
contains near four times the number of inhabitants: it is almost as
populous as France or Germany; but, if we consider its vast extent, the
number of souls is thirty times less.

There is one important remark to be made in regard to this enumeration,
namely, that out of six million six hundred and forty thousand people
liable to the poll-tax, there are about nine hundred thousand that
belong to the Russian clergy, without reckoning either the ecclesiastics
of the conquered countries, of the Ukraine, or of Siberia.

Therefore, out of seven persons liable to the poll-tax, the clergy have
one; but, nevertheless, they are far from possessing the seventh part of
the whole revenues of the state, as is the case in many other kingdoms,
where they have at least a seventh of all estates; for their peasants
pay a capitation to the sovereign; and the other taxes of the crown of
Russia, in which the clergy have no share, are very considerable.

This valuation is very different from that of all other writers, on the
affairs of Russia; so that foreign ministers, who have transmitted
memoirs of this state to their courts, have been greatly mistaken. The
archives of the empire are the only things to be consulted.

It is very probable, that Russia has been better peopled than it is at
present; before the small-pox, that came from the extremities of Arabia,
and the great-pox that came from America, had spread over these
climates, where they have now taken root. The world owes these two
dreadful scourges, which have depopulated it more than all its wars, the
one to Mahomet, and the other to Christopher Columbus. The plague, which
is a native of Africa, seldom approached the countries of the North:
besides, the people of those countries, from Sarmatia to the Tartars,
who dwell beyond the great wall, having overspread the world by their
irruptions, this ancient nursery of the human species must have been
surprisingly diminished.

In this vast extent of country, there are said to be about seventy-four
thousand monks, and five thousand nuns, notwithstanding the care taken
by Peter the Great to reduce their number; a care worthy the legislator
of an empire where the human race is so remarkably deficient. These
thirteen thousand persons, thus immured and lost to the state, have, as
the reader may have observed, seventy-two thousand bondmen to till their
lands, which is evidently too great a number: there cannot be a stronger
proof how difficult it is to eradicate abuses of a long standing.

I find, by a list of the revenues of the empire in 1735, that reckoning
the tribute paid by the Tartars, with all taxes and duties in money, the
sum total amounted to thirteen millions of rubles, which makes
sixty-five millions of French livres, exclusive of tributes in kind.
This moderate sum was at that time sufficient to maintain three hundred
and thirty-nine thousand five hundred, as well sea as land forces: but
both the revenues and troops are augmented since that time.

The customs, diets, and manners of the Russians, ever bore a greater
affinity to those of Asia than to those of Europe: such was the old
custom of receiving tributes in kind, of defraying the expenses of
ambassadors on their journeys, and during their residence in the
country, and of never appearing at church, or in the royal presence with
a sword; an oriental custom, directly the reverse of that ridiculous and
barbarous one amongst us, of addressing ourselves to God, to our king,
to our friends, and to our women, with an offensive weapon, which hangs
down to the bottom of the leg. The long robe worn on public days, had a
more noble air than the short habits of the western nations of Europe. A
vest lined and turned up with fur, with a long scimar, adorned with
jewels for festival days; and those high turbans, which add to the
stature, were much more striking to the eye than our perukes and close
coats, and more suitable to cold climates; but this ancient dress of all
nations seems to be not so well contrived for war, nor so convenient for
working people. Most of their other customs were rustic; but we must not
imagine, that their manners were so barbarous as some writers would have
us believe. Albert Krants relates a story of an Italian ambassador, whom
the czar ordered to have his hat nailed to his head, for not pulling it
off while he was making his speech to him. Others attribute this
adventure to a Tartar, and others again to a French ambassador.

Olearius pretends, that the czar Michael Theodorowitz, banished the
marquis of Exideüil, ambassador from Henry IV. of France, into Siberia;
but it is certain, that this monarch sent no ambassador to Moscow, and
that there never was a marquis of Exideüil in France. In the same manner
do travellers speak about the country of Borandia, and of the trade they
have carried on with the people of Nova Zémbla, which is scarcely
inhabited at all, and the long conversations they have had with some of
the Samojedes, as if they understood their language. Were the enormous
compilations of voyages to be cleared of every thing that is not true
nor useful in them, both the works and the public would be gainers by
it.

The Russian government resembled that of the Turks, in respect to the
standing forces, or guards, called Strelitzes, who, like the
janissaries, sometimes disposed of the crown, and frequently disturbed
the state as much as they defended it. Their number was about forty
thousand. Those who were dispersed in the provinces, subsisted by rapine
and plunder; those in Moscow lived like citizens, followed trades, did
no duty, and carried their insolence to the greatest excess: in short,
there was no other way to preserve peace and good order in the kingdom,
but by breaking them; a very necessary, and at the same time a very
dangerous step.

The public revenues did not exceed five millions of rubles, or about
twenty-five millions of French livres. This was sufficient when czar
Peter came to the crown to maintain the ancient mediocrity, but was not
a third part of what was necessary to go certain lengths, and to render
himself and people considerable in Europe: but at the same time many of
their taxes were paid in kind, according to the Turkish custom, which
is less burthensome to the people than that of paying their tributes in
money.


OF THE TITLE OF CZAR.

As to the title of czar, it may possibly come from the tzars or tchars
of the kingdom of Casan. When John, or Ivan Basilides, completed the
conquest of this kingdom in the sixteenth century, which had been begun
by his grandfather, who afterwards lost it, he assumed this title, which
his successors have retained ever since. Before John Basilides, the
sovereign of Russia, took the title of Welike Knez, i. e. great prince,
great lord, great chief, which the Christian nations afterwards rendered
by that of great duke. Czar Michael Theodorowitz, when he received the
Holstein embassy, took to himself the following titles: 'Great knez, and
great lord, conservator of all the Russias, prince of Wolodomer, Moscow,
Novogorod, &c. tzar of Casan, tzar of Astracan, and tzar of Siberia.'
Tzar was, therefore, a title belonging to these eastern princes; and,
therefore, it is more probable to have been derived from the tshas of
Persia, than from the Roman Cæsars, whom the Siberian tzars, on the
banks of the Oby, can hardly be supposed to have ever heard.

No title, however pompous, is of any consequence, if those who bear it
are not great and powerful themselves. The word emperor, which
originally signified no more than general of the army, became the title
of the sovereign of the Roman republic: it is now given to the supreme
governor of all the Russias, more justly than to any other potentate, if
we consider the power and extent of his dominions.


RELIGION.

The established religion of this country has, ever since the eleventh
century, been that of the Greek church, so called in opposition to the
Latin; though there were always a greater number of Mahometan and Pagan
provinces, than of those inhabited by Christians. Siberia, as far as
China, was in a state of idolatry; and, in some of the provinces, they
were utter strangers to all kind of religion.

Perry, the engineer, and baron Strahlemberg, who both resided so many
years in Russia, tell us, that they found more sincerity and probity
among the Pagans than the other inhabitants; not that paganism made them
more virtuous, but their manner of living, which, was that of the
primitive ages, as they are called, freed them from all the tumultuous
passions; and, in consequence, they were known for their integrity.

Christianity did not get footing in Russia and the other countries of
the North, till very late. It is said, that a princess, named Olha,
first introduced it, about the end of the tenth century, as Clotilda,
niece to an Arian prince, did among the Franks; the wife of Miceslaus,
duke of Poland, among the Poles; and the sister of the emperor Henry II.
among the Hungarians. Women are naturally easily persuaded by the
ministers of religion, and as easily persuade the other part of mankind.

It is further added, that the princess Olha caused herself to be
baptized at Constantinople, by the name of Helena; and that, as soon as
she embraced Christianity, the emperor John Zimisces fell in love with
her. It is most likely that she was a widow; however, she refused the
emperor. The example of the princess Olha, or Olga, as she is called,
did not at first make many proselytes. Her son,[15] who reigned a long
time, was not of the same way of thinking as his mother, but her
grandson, Wolodomer, who was born of a concubine, having murdered his
brother and mounted the throne, sued for the alliance of Basiles,
emperor of Constantinople, but could obtain it only on condition of
receiving baptism: and this event, which happened in the year 987, is
the epocha when the Greek church was first established in Russia.
Photius, the patriarch, so famous for his immense erudition, his
disputes with the church of Rome, and for his misfortunes, sent a person
to baptize Wolodomer, in order to add this part of the world to the
patriarchal see.[16]

Wolodimer, or Wolodomer, therefore completed the work which his
grandmother had begun. A Greek was made the first metropolitan, or
patriarch of Russia; and from this time the Russians adopted an
alphabet, taken partly from the Greek. This would have been of advantage
to them, had they not still retained the principles of their own
language, which is the Sclavonian in every thing, but a few terms
relating to their liturgy and church government. One of the Greek
patriarchs, named Jeremiah, having a suit depending before the divan,
came to Moscow to solicit it; where, after some time, he resigned his
authority over the Russian churches, and consecrated patriarch, the
archbishop of Novogorod, named Job. This was in the year 1588, from
which time the Russian church became as independent as its empire. The
patriarch of Russia has ever since been consecrated by the Russian
bishops, and not by the patriarch of Constantinople. He ranked in the
Greek church next to the patriarch of Jerusalem, but he was in fact the
only free and powerful patriarch; and, consequently, the only real one.
Those of Jerusalem, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, are mercenary
chiefs of a church, enslaved by the Turks; and even the patriarchs of
Jerusalem and Antioch are no longer considered as such, having no more
credit or influence in Turkey, than the rabbins of the Jewish synagogues
settled there.

It was from a person who was a patriarch of all the Russias, that Peter
the Great was descended in a right line. These new prelates soon wanted
to share the sovereign authority with the czars. They thought it not
enough that their prince walked bare-headed, once a year before the
patriarch, leading his horse by the bridle. These external marks of
respect only served to increase their thirst for rule; a passion which
proved the source of great troubles in Russia, as well as in other
countries.

Nicon, a person whom the monks look upon as a saint, and who was
patriarch in the reign of Alexis, the father of Peter the Great, wanted
to raise his dignity above that of the throne; for he not only assumed
the privilege of sitting by the side of the czar in the senate, but
pretended that neither war nor peace could be made without his consent.
His authority was so great, that, being supported by his immense wealth,
and by his intrigues with the clergy and the people, he kept his master
in a kind of subjection. He had the boldness to excommunicate some
senators who opposed his excessive insolence; till at last, Alexis,
finding himself not powerful enough to depose him by his own authority,
was obliged to convene a synod of all the bishops. There the patriarch
was accused of having received money from the Poles; and being
convicted, was deposed, and confined for the remainder of his days in a
monastery, after which the prelates chose another patriarch in his
stead.

From the first infancy of Christianity in Russia, there have been
several sects there, as well as in other countries; for sects are as
frequently the fruits of ignorance, as of pretended knowledge: but
Russia is the only Christian state of any considerable extent, in which
religion has not excited civil wars, though it has felt some occasional
tumults.

The Raskolnikys, who consist at present of about two thousand males, and
who are mentioned in the foregoing list,[17] are the most ancient sect
of any in this country. It was established in the twelfth century, by
some enthusiasts, who had a superficial knowledge of the New Testament:
they made use then, and still do, of the old pretence of all sectaries,
that of following the letter, and accused all other Christians of
remissness. They would not permit a priest, who had drank brandy, to
confer baptism; they affirmed, in the words of our Saviour, that there
is neither a first nor a last, among the faithful; and held, that one of
the elect might kill himself for the love of his Saviour. According to
them it is a great sin to repeat the hallelujah three times; and,
therefore, repeat it only twice. The benediction is to be given only
with three fingers. In other respects, no society can be more regular,
or strict in its morals. They live like the quakers, and, like them, do
not admit any other Christians into their assemblies, which is the
reason that these have accused them of all the abominations of which the
heathens accused the primitive Galileans: these latter, the gnostics,
and with which the Roman catholics have charged the protestants. They
have been frequently accused of cutting the throat of an infant, and
drinking its blood; and of mixing together in their private ceremonies,
without distinction of kindred, age, or even of sex. They have been
persecuted at times, and then they shut themselves up in their hamlets,
set fire to their houses, and thrown themselves into the flames. Peter
took the only method of reclaiming them, which was by letting them live
in peace.

But to conclude, in all this vast empire, there are but twenty-eight
episcopal sees; and in Peter's time there were but twenty-two. This
small number was, perhaps, one of the causes to which the Russian church
owes its tranquillity. So very circumscribed was the knowledge of the
clergy, that czar Theodore, brother to Peter the Great, was the first
who introduced the custom of singing Psalms in churches.

Theodore and Peter, especially the latter, admitted indifferently, into
their councils and their armies, those of the Greek, the Latin, the
Lutheran, and the Calvinist communion, leaving every one at liberty to
serve God after his own conscience, provided he did his duty to the
state. At that time there was not one Latin church in this great empire
of two thousand leagues, till Peter established some new manufactures at
Astracan, when there were about sixty Roman catholic families, under the
direction of the capuchins; but the jesuits endeavouring to establish
themselves in his dominions, he drove them out by an edict, published in
the month of April, 1718. He tolerated the capuchins as an insignificant
set of monks, but considered the jesuits as dangerous politicians.

The Greek church has at once the honour and satisfaction to see its
communion extended throughout an empire of two thousand leagues in
length, while that of Rome is not in possession of half that tract in
Europe. Those of the Greek communion have, at all times, been
particularly attentive to maintain an equality between theirs and the
Latin church; and always upon their guard against the zeal of the see of
Rome, which they look upon as ambition; because, in fact, that church,
whose power is very much circumscribed in our hemisphere, and yet
assumes the title of universal, has always endeavoured to act up to that
title.

The Jews never made any settlements in Russia, as they have done in most
of the other states of Europe, from Constantinople to Rome. The Russians
have carried on their trade by themselves, or by the help of the nations
settled amongst them. Theirs is the only country of the Greek communion,
where synagogues are not seen by the side of Christian temples.


_Conclusion of the State of_ RUSSIA _before_ PETER _the_ GREAT.

Russia is indebted solely to czar Peter for its great influence in the
affairs of Europe; being of no consideration in any other reign, since
it embraced Christianity. Before this period, the Russians made the same
figure on the Black Sea, that the Normans did afterwards on the coasts
of the ocean. In the reign of the emperor Heraclius, they fitted out an
armament of forty thousand small barks; appeared before Constantinople,
which they besieged, and imposed a tribute on the Greek emperors; but
the grand knez Wolodimar, being wholly taken up with the care of
establishing Christianity in his dominions, and wearied out with
intestine broils in his own family, weakened his dominions by dividing
them between his children. They almost all fell a prey to the Tartars,
who held Russia in subjection near two hundred years. At length John
Basilides freed it from slavery, and enlarged its boundaries: but, after
his time, it was ruined again by civil wars.

Before the time of Peter the Great, Russia was neither so powerful, so
well cultivated, so populous, nor so rich as at present. It had no
possessions in Finland, nor in Livonia; and this latter alone had long
been worth more than all Siberia. The Cossacks were still unsubjected,
nor were the people of Astracan reduced to obedience; what little trade
was carried on, was rather to their disadvantage. The White Sea, the
Baltic, the Pontus Euxinus, the sea of Azoph, and the Caspian Sea, were
entirely useless to a nation that had not a single ship, nor even a term
in their language to express a fleet. If nothing more had been wanting
but to be superior to the Tartars, and the other nations of the north,
as far as China, the Russians undoubtedly had that advantage, but they
were to be brought upon an equality with civilized nations, and to be in
a condition, one day, of even surpassing several of them. Such an
undertaking appeared altogether impracticable, inasmuch as they had not
a single ship at sea, and were absolutely ignorant of military
discipline by land: nay, the most common manufactures were hardly
encouraged, and agriculture itself, that _primum mobile_ of trade, was
neglected. This requires the utmost attention and encouragement on the
part of a government; and it is to this that the English are indebted,
for finding in their corn a treasure far superior to their woollen
manufacture.

This gross neglect of the necessary arts, sufficiently shews that the
people of Russia had no idea of the polite arts, which become necessary,
in their turn, when we have cultivated the others. They might indeed,
have sent some of the natives to gain instruction among foreigners, but
the difference of languages, manners, and religion, opposed it. Besides,
there was a law of state and religion, equally sacred and pernicious,
which prohibited any Russian from going out of his country, and thus
seemed to devote this people to eternal ignorance. They were in
possession of the most extensive dominions in the universe, and yet
every thing was wanted amongst them. At length Peter was born, and
Russia became a civilized state.

Happily, of all the great lawgivers who have lived in the world, Peter
is the only one whose history is well known. Those of Theseus and
Romulus, who did far less than him, and of the founders of all
well-governed states, are blended with the most absurd fictions: whereas
here, we have the advantage of written truths, which would pass for
fictions, were they not so well attested.




CHAP. III.

    The ancestors of Peter the Great.


The family of Peter the Great have been in possession of the throne ever
since the year 1613. Before that time, Russia had undergone revolutions,
which had retarded the reformation of her police, and the introduction
of the liberal arts. This has been the fate of all human societies. No
kingdom ever experienced more cruel troubles. In the year 1597, the
tyrant Boris Godonow assassinated Demetrius (or Demetri, as he was
called), the lawful heir, and usurped the empire. A young monk took the
name of Demetrius, pretending to be that prince who had escaped from his
murderers; and with the assistance of the Poles, and a considerable
party (which every tyrant has against him), he drove out the usurper,
and seized the crown himself. The imposture was discovered as soon as he
came to the sovereignty, because the people were not pleased with him;
and he was murdered. Three other false Demetrius's started up, one after
another. Such a succession of impostors, supposes a country in the
utmost distraction. The less men are civilized, the more easily they are
imposed on. It may readily be conceived, how much these frauds augmented
the public confusion and misfortunes. The Poles, who had begun the
revolutions, by setting up the first false Demetrius, were on the point
of being masters of Russia. The Swedes shared in the spoils on the coast
of Finland, and laid claim to the crown. The state seemed on the verge
of utter destruction.

In the midst of these calamities, an assembly, composed of the principal
boyards, chose for their sovereign a young man of fifteen years of age:
this happened in 1613, and did not seem a very likely method of putting
an end to these troubles. This young man was Michael Romanow,[18]
grandfather to czar Peter, and son to the archbishop of Rotow, surnamed
Philaretes, and of a nun, and related by the mother's side to the
ancient czars.

It must be observed, that this archbishop was a powerful nobleman, whom
the tyrant Boris had obliged to become priest. His wife, Scheremetow,
was likewise compelled to take the veil; this was the ancient custom of
the western tyrants of the Latin church, as that of putting out the eyes
was with the Greek Christians. The tyrant Demetrius made Philaretes
archbishop of Rostow, and sent him ambassador to Poland, where he was
detained prisoner by the Poles, who were then at war with the Russians;
so little was the law of nations known to the different people of these
times. During his father's confinement, young Romanow was elected czar.
The archbishop was exchanged against some Polish prisoners; and, at his
return, his son created him patriarch, and the old man was in fact king,
under his son's name.

If such a government appears extraordinary to strangers, the marriages
of czar Michael Romanow, will seem still more so. The Russian princes
had never intermarried with foreign states since the year 1490, or after
they became masters of Casan and Astracan; they seem to have followed
the Asiatic customs in almost every thing, and especially in that of
marrying only among their own subjects.

This conformity to the ancient customs of Asia, was still more
conspicuous at the ceremonies observed at the marriage of a czar. A
number of the most beautiful women in the provinces were sent for to
court, where they were received by the grand gouvernante of the court,
who provided apartments for them in her own house, where they all eat
together. The czar paid them visits, sometimes incognito, and sometimes
in his real character. The wedding-day was fixed, without its being
declared on whom the choice had fallen. At the appointed time, the
happy she was presented with a rich wedding-suit, and other dresses
were given to the rest of the fair candidates, who then returned home.
There have been four instances of these marriages.

In this manner was Michael Romanow espoused to Eudocia, the daughter of
a poor gentleman, named Streschneu. He was employed in ploughing his
grounds with his servants, when the lords of the bed-chamber came to him
with presents from the czar, and to acquaint him that his daughter was
placed on the throne. The name of the princess is still held in the
highest veneration by the Russians. This custom is greatly different
from ours, but not the less respectable on that account.

It is necessary to observe, that before Romanow was elected czar, a
strong party had made choice of prince Ladislaus, son to Sigismund III.
king of Poland. At the same time, the provinces bordering on Sweden had
offered the crown to a brother of Gustavus Adolphus: so that Russia was
in the same situation then in which we have so frequently seen Poland,
where the right of electing a king has been the source of civil wars.
But the Russians did not follow the example of the Poles, who entered
into a compact with the prince whom they elected; notwithstanding they
had smarted from the oppression of tyrants, yet they voluntarily
submitted to a young man, without making any conditions with him.

Russia never was an elective kingdom; but the male issue of the ancient
sovereigns failing, and six czars, or pretenders, having perished
miserably in the late troubles, there was, as we have observed, a
necessity for electing a monarch; and this election occasioned fresh
wars with Poland and Sweden, who maintained, with force of arms, their
pretended rights to the crown of Russia. The right of governing a nation
against its own will, can never be long supported. The Poles, on their
side, after having advanced as far as Moscow, and exercised all the
ravages in which the military expeditions of those times chiefly
consisted, concluded a truce for fourteen years. By this truce, Poland
remained in possession of the duchy of Smolensko, in which the
Boristhenes has its source. The Swedes also made peace, in virtue of
which they remained in possession of Ingria, and deprived the Russians
of all communication with the Baltic Sea, so that this empire was
separated more than ever from the rest of Europe.

Michael Romanow, after this peace, reigned quietly, without making any
alteration in the state, either to the improvement or corruption of the
administration. After his death, which happened in 1645, his son, Alexis
Michaelowitz (or son of Michael), ascended the throne by hereditary
right. It may be observed, that the czars were crowned by the patriarch
of Russia, according to the ceremonies in use at Constantinople, except
that the patriarch of Russia, was seated on the same ascent with the
sovereign, and constantly affected an equality highly insulting to the
supreme power.


ALEXIS MICHAELOWITZ.

Alexis was married in the same manner as his father, and from among the
young women presented, he chose the one who appeared the most amiable in
his eyes. He married a daughter of the boyard Meloslauski, in 1647; his
second wife, whom he married in 1671, was of the family of Nariskin, and
his favourite Morosow was married to another. There cannot be a more
suitable title found for this favourite than that of vizier, for he
governed the empire in a despotic manner; and, by his great power,
excited several commotions among the strelitzes and the populace, as
frequently happens at Constantinople.

The reign of Alexis was disturbed by bloody insurrections, and by
domestic and foreign wars. A chief of the Don Cossacks, named
Stenko-Rasin, endeavoured to make himself king of Astracan, and was for
a long time very formidable; but, being at length defeated and taken
prisoner, he ended his life by the hands of the executioner; like all
those of this stamp, who have nothing to expect but a throne or a
scaffold. About twelve thousand of his adherents are said to have been
hanged on the high road to Astracan. In this part of the world, men
being uninfluenced by morality, were to be governed only by rigour; and
from this severity, frequently carried on to a degree of cruelty, arose
slavery, and a secret thirst of revenge.

Alexis had a war with the Poles that proved successful, and terminated
in a peace, which secured to him the possession of Smolensko, Kiow, and
the Ukraine: but he was unfortunate against the Swedes, and the
boundaries of the Russian empire were contracted within a very narrow
compass on that side of the kingdom.

The Turks were at that time his most formidable enemies: they invaded
Poland, and threatened the dominions of the czar that bordered upon Crim
Tartary, the ancient Taurica Chersonesus. In 1671, they took the
important city of Kaminiek, and all that belonged to Poland in the
Ukraine. The Cossacks of that country, ever averse to subjection, knew
not whether they belonged to the Turks, Poland, or Russia. Sultan
Mahomet IV. who had conquered the Poles, and had just imposed a tribute
upon them, demanded, with all the haughtiness of an Ottoman victor, that
the czar should evacuate his possessions in the Ukraine, but received as
haughty a denial from that prince. Men did not know at that time how to
disguise their pride, by an outside of civility. The sultan, in his
letter, styled the sovereign of the Russias only Christian Hospodar, and
entitled himself 'most gracious majesty, king of the universe.' The czar
replied in these terms, 'that he scorned to submit to a Mahometan dog,
and that his scimetar was as good as the grand seignior's sabre.'

Alexis at that time formed a design which seemed to presage the
influence which the Russian empire would one day obtain in the Christian
world. He sent ambassadors to the pope, and to almost all the great
sovereigns in Europe, excepting France (which was in alliance with the
Turks), in order to establish a league against the Ottoman Porte. His
ambassadors at the court of Rome succeeded only in not being obliged to
kiss the pope's toe; and in other courts they met with only unprofitable
good wishes; the quarrels of the Christian princes between themselves,
and the jarring interests arising from those quarrels, having constantly
prevented them from uniting against the common enemy of Christianity.

In the mean time, the Turks threatened to chastise the Poles, who
refused to pay their tribute: czar Alexis assisted on the side of Crim
Tartary, and John Sobieski, general of the crown, wiped off his
country's stain in the blood of the Turks, at the famous battle of
Choczim,[19] in 1674, which paved his way to the throne. Alexis
disputed this very throne with him, and proposed to unite his extensive
dominions to Poland, as the Jagellons had done; but in regard to
Lithuania, the greatness of his offer was the cause of its being
rejected. He is said to have been very deserving of the new kingdom, by
the manner in which he governed his own. He was the first who caused a
body of laws to be digested in Russia, though imperfect; and introduced
both linen and silk manufactures, which indeed were not long kept up;
nevertheless, he had the merit of their first establishment. He peopled
the deserts about the Wolga and the Kama, with Lithuanian, Polish, and
Tartarian families, whom he had taken prisoners in his wars: before his
reign, all prisoners of war were the slaves of those to whose lot they
fell. Alexis employed them in agriculture: he did his utmost endeavours
to introduce discipline among his troops. In a word, he was worthy of
being the father of Peter the Great; but he had no time to perfect what
he had begun, being snatched away by a sudden death, at the age of
forty-six, in the beginning of the year 1677, according to our style,
which is eleven days forwarder than that of Russia.


FOEDOR, or THEODORE ALEXIOWITZ.

Upon the death of Alexis, son of Michael, all fell again into confusion.
He left, by his first marriage, two princes, and six princesses.
Theodore, the eldest, ascended the throne at fifteen years of age. He
was a prince of a weak and sickly constitution, but of merit superior to
his bodily infirmities. His father Alexis had caused him to be
acknowledged his successor, a year before his death: a conduct observed
by the kings of France from Hugh Capet down to Lewis the Young, and by
many other crowned heads.

The second son of Alexis was Iwan, or John, who was still worse treated
by nature than his brother Theodore, being almost blind and dumb, very
infirm, and frequently attacked with convulsions. Of six daughters, born
of this first marriage, the only one who made any figure in Europe was
the princess Sophia, who was remarkable for her great talents; but
unhappily still more so for the mischief she intended against Peter the
Great.

Alexis, by his second marriage with another of his subjects, daughter of
the boyard Nariskin, had Peter and the princess Nathalia. Peter was born
the 30th of May (or the 10th of June new stile), in the year 1672, and
was but four years old when he lost his father. As the children of a
second marriage were not much regarded in Russia, it was little expected
that he would one day mount the throne.

It had ever been the character of the family of Romanow to civilize
their state. It was also that of Theodore. We have already remarked, in
speaking of Moscow, that this prince encouraged the inhabitants of that
city to build a great number of stone houses. He likewise enlarged that
capital, and made several useful regulations in the general police; but,
by attempting to reform the boyards, he made them all his enemies:
besides, he was not possessed of sufficient knowledge, vigour, or
resolution, to venture upon making a general reformation. The war with
the Turks, or rather with the Crim Tartars, in which he was constantly
engaged with alternate success, would not permit a prince of his weak
state of health to attempt so great a work. Theodore, like the rest of
his predecessors, married one of his own subjects, a native of the
frontiers of Poland; but having lost her in less than a year after
their nuptials, he took for his second wife, in 1682, Martha Matweowna,
daughter of the secretary Nariskin.[20] Some months after this marriage,
he was seized with the disorder which ended his days, and died without
leaving any children. As the czars married without regard to birth, they
might likewise (at least at that time) appoint a successor without
respect to primogeniture. The dignity of consort and heir to the
sovereign seemed to be entirely the reward of merit; and, in that
respect, the custom of this empire was much preferable to the customs of
more civilized states.

Theodore, before he expired, seeing that his brother Iwan was by his
natural infirmities incapable of governing, nominated his younger
brother Peter, heir to the empire of Russia. Peter, who was then only in
his tenth year, had already given the most promising hopes.

If, on the one hand, the custom of raising a subject to the rank of
czarina, was favourable to the females, there was another which was no
less hard upon them; namely, that the daughters of the czars were very
seldom married, but were most of them obliged to pass their lives in a
monastery.

The princess Sophia, third daughter of czar Alexis, by his first
marriage, was possessed of abilities, equally great and dangerous.
Perceiving that her brother Theodore had not long to live, she did not
retire to a convent; but finding herself situated between two brothers,
one of whom was incapable of governing, through his natural inability;
and the other, on account of his youth, she conceived the design of
placing herself at the head of the empire. Hence, in the last hours of
czar Theodore, she attempted to act the part that Pulcheria had formerly
played with her brother, the emperor Theodosius.




CHAP. IV.

    JOHN AND PETER.

    Horrible Sedition among the Strelitzes.[21]


[Sidenote: 1682.]

Czar Theodore's eyes were scarcely closed, when the nomination of a
prince of only ten years old to the throne, the exclusion of the elder
brother, and the intrigues of the princess Sophia, their sister, excited
a most bloody revolt among the strelitzes. Never did the janissaries,
nor the prætorian guards, exercise more horrible barbarities. The
insurrection began two days after the interment of Theodore, when they
all ran to arms in the Kremlin, which is the imperial palace at Moscow.
There they began with accusing nine of their colonels, for keeping back
part of their pay. The ministry was obliged to break the colonels, and
to pay the strelitzes the money they demanded: but this did not satisfy
them, they insisted upon having these nine officers delivered up to
them, and condemned them, by a majority of votes, to suffer the Battogs,
or Knout; the manner of which punishment is as follows:--

The delinquent is stripped naked, and laid flat on his belly, while two
executioners beat him over the back with switches, or small canes, till
the judge, who stands by to see the sentence put in execution, says, 'It
is enough.' The colonels, after being thus treated by their men, were
obliged to return them thanks, according to the custom of the eastern
nations; where criminals, after undergoing their punishment, must kiss
the judge's hand. Besides complying with this custom, the officers gave
them a sum of money, which was something more than the custom.

While the strelitzes thus began to make themselves formidable, the
princess Sophia, who secretly encouraged them, in order to lead them by
degrees from crime to crime, held a meeting at her house, consisting of
the princesses of the blood, the generals of the army, the boyards, the
patriarch, the bishops, and even some of the principal merchants; where
she represented to them, that prince John, by right of birth and merit,
was entitled to the empire, the reins of which she intended to keep in
her own hands. At the breaking up of the assembly, she caused a promise
to be made to the strelitzes, of an augmentation of pay, besides
considerable presents. Her emissaries were in particular employed to
stir up the soldiery against the Nariskin family, especially the two
brothers of the young dowager czarina, the mother of Peter the First.
These persuaded the strelitzes, that one of the brothers, named John,
had put on the imperial robes, had seated himself on the throne, and had
attempted to strangle prince John; adding, moreover, that the late czar
Theodore had been poisoned by a villain, named Daniel Vongad, a Dutch
physician. At last Sophia put into their hands a list of forty noblemen,
whom she stiled enemies to their corps, and to the state, and as such
worthy of death. These proceedings exactly resembled the proscriptions
of Sylla, and the Roman triumvirate, which had been revived by
Christian II. in Denmark and Sweden. This may serve to shew, that such
cruelties prevail in all countries in times of anarchy and confusion.
The mutineers began the tragedy with throwing the two knez, or princes,
Dolgorouki and Matheof, out of the palace-windows; whom the strelitzes
received upon the points of their spears, then stripped them, and
dragged their dead bodies into the great square; after this they rushed
into the palace, where meeting with Athanasius Nariskin, a brother of
the young czarina, and one of the uncles of czar Peter, they murdered
him in like manner; then breaking open the door of a neighbouring
church, where three of the proscribed persons had taken refuge, they
drag them from the altar, strip them naked, and stab them to death with
knives.

They were so blinded with their fury, that seeing a young nobleman of
the family of Soltikoff, a great favourite of theirs, and who was not
included in the list of the proscribed, and some of them mistaking him
for John Nariskin, whom they were in search of, they murdered him upon
the spot; and what plainly shews the manners of those times, after
having discovered their error, they carried the body of young Soltikoff,
to his father to bury it; and the wretched parent, far from daring to
complain, gave them a considerable reward for bringing him the mangled
body of his son. Being reproached by his wife, his daughters, and the
widow of the deceased, for his weakness, 'Let us wait for an opportunity
of being revenged,' said the old man. These words being overheard by
some of the soldiers, they returned furiously back into the room,
dragged the aged parent by the hair, and cut his throat at his own door.

Another party of the strelitzes, who were scouring the city in search
of the Dutch physician, Vongad, met with his son, of whom they inquired
for his father; the youth trembling, replied, he did not know where he
was, upon which they immediately dispatched him. Soon after, a German
physician falling in their way, 'You are a doctor,' said they, 'and if
you did not poison our master, Theodore, you have poisoned others, and
therefore merit death;' and thereupon killed him.

At length they found the Dutchman, of whom they were in quest, disguised
in the garb of a beggar; they instantly drag him before the palace. The
princesses who loved this worthy man, and placed great confidence in his
skill, begged the strelitzes to spare him, assuring them that he was a
very good physician, and had taken all possible care of their brother
Theodore. The strelitzes made answer, that he not only deserved to die
as a physician, but also as a sorcerer; and that they had found in his
house, a great dried toad, and the skin of a serpent. They furthermore
required to have young Nariskin delivered up to them, whom they had
searched for in vain for two days: alleging, that he was certainly in
the palace, and that they would set fire to it, unless he was put into
their hands. The sister of John Nariskin, and the other princesses,
terrified by their menaces, went to acquaint their unhappy brother in
the place of his concealment, with what had passed; upon which the
patriarch heard his confession, administers the viaticum, and extreme
unction to him, and then, taking an image of the blessed Virgin, which
was said to perform miracles, he leads the young man forth by the hand,
and presents him to the strelitzes, shewing them, at the same time, the
image of the Virgin. The princesses, who in tears surrounded Nariskin,
falling upon their knees before the soldiers, besought them, in the name
of the blessed Virgin, to spare their relation's life; but the inhuman
wretches tore him from their arms, and dragged him to the foot of the
stairs, together with the physician Vongad, where they held a kind of
tribunal among themselves, and condemned them both to be put to the
torture. One of the soldiers, who could write, drew up a form of
accusation, and sentenced the two unfortunate princes to be cut in
pieces; a punishment inflicted in China and Tartary on parricides, and
called the punishment of ten thousand slices. After having thus used
Nariskin and Vongad, they exposed their heads, feet, and hands, on the
iron points of a balustrade.

While this party of the strelitzes were thus glutting their fury in the
sight of the princesses, the rest massacred every one who was obnoxious
to them, or suspected by the princess Sophia.

This horrid tragedy concluded with proclaiming the two princes, John and
Peter, in June, 1682, joint sovereigns, and associating their sister
Sophia with them, in the quality of co-regent; who then publicly
approved of all their outrages, gave them rewards, confiscated the
estates of the proscribed, and bestowed them upon their murderers. She
even permitted them to erect a monument, with the names of the persons
they had murdered, as being traitors to their country: and to crown all,
she published letters-patent, thanking them for their zeal and
fidelity.




CHAP. V.

    Administration of the princess Sophia. Extraordinary quarrel about
    religion. A conspiracy.


Such were the steps by which the princess Sophia did in effect ascend
the throne of Russia, though without being declared czarina; and such
the examples that Peter the First had before his eyes. Sophia enjoyed
all the honours of a sovereign; her bust was on the public coin; she
signed all dispatches, held the first place in council, and enjoyed a
power without control. She was possessed of a great share of
understanding, and some wit; made verses in the Russian language, and
both spoke and wrote extremely well. These talents were set off by the
addition of an agreeable person, and sullied only by her ambition.

She procured a wife for her brother John, in the manner already
described in several examples. A young lady named Soltikoff, of the
family with the nobleman of that name who had been assassinated by the
seditious strelitzes, was sent for from the heart of Siberia, where her
father commanded a fortress, to be presented to czar John at Moscow. Her
beauty triumphed over all the intrigues of her rivals, and John was
married to her in 1684. At every marriage of a czar we seem to read the
history of Ahasuerus, or that of Theodosius the Younger.

In the midst of the rejoicings on account of this marriage, the
strelitzes raised a new insurrection, and (who would believe it?) on
account of religion! of a particular tenet! Had they been mere soldiers,
they would never have become controvertists, but they were also
citizens of Moscow. Whosoever has, or assumes a right of speaking in an
authoritative manner to the populace, may found a sect. This has been
seen in all ages, and all parts of the world, especially since the
passion of dogmatizing has become the instrument of ambition, and the
terror of weak minds.

Russia had experienced some previous disturbances on occasion of a
dispute, whether the sign of the cross was to be made with three
fingers, or with two! One Abakum, who was also a priest, had set up some
new tenets at Moscow, in regard to the Holy Spirit; which according to
the Scriptures, enlightened all the faithful; as likewise with respect
to the equality of the primitive Christians, and these words of
Christ:--'There shall be amongst you neither first nor last.' Several
citizens and many of the strelitzes, embraced the opinions of Abakum.
One Raspop[22] was the chief of this party, which became considerable.
The sectaries, at length, entered (July 16, 1682, new stile) the
cathedral, where the patriarch and his clergy were officiating; drove
them out of the church with stones, and seated themselves very devoutly
in their places, to receive the Holy Spirit. They called the patriarch
the 'ravenous wolf in the sheepfold;' a title which all sects have
liberally bestowed on each other. The princess Sophia, and the two
czars, were immediately made acquainted with these disturbances: and the
other strelitzes, who were staunch to the good old cause, were given to
understand, that the czars and the church were in danger. Upon this the
strelitzes and burghers of the patriarchal party attacked the
Abakumists: but a stop was put to the carnage, by publishing a
convocation of a council, which was immediately assembled in a hall of
the palace. This took up very little time, for they obliged every priest
they met to attend. The patriarch, and a bishop, disputed against
Raspop; but at the second syllogism, they began to throw stones at one
another. The council ended with ordering Raspop, and some of his
faithful disciples to have their heads struck off; and the sentence was
executed by the sole order of the three sovereigns, Sophia, John, and
Peter.

During these troubles, there was a knez, named Chowanskoi, who having
been instrumental in raising the princess Sophia to the dignity she then
held, wanted, as a reward for his services, to have a share in the
administration.

It may be supposed, that he found Sophia not so grateful as he could
wish; upon which he espoused the cause of religion, and the persecuted
Raspopians, and stirred up a party among the strelitzes and the people,
in defence of God's name.

This conspiracy proved a more serious affair than the enthusiastic riot
of Raspop. An ambitious hypocrite always carries things farther than a
simple fanatic. Chowanskoi aimed at no less than the imperial dignity;
and to rid himself of all cause of fear, he resolved to murder the two
czars, Sophia, the other princesses, and every one who was attached to
the imperial family. The czars and the princesses were obliged to retire
to the monastery of the Holy Trinity, within twelve leagues of
Petersburg.[23] This was, at the same time, a convent, a palace, and a
fortress, like Mount Cassino,[24] Corhy,[25] Fulda,[26] Kempten,[27]
and several others belonging to the Latin church. This monastery of the
Trinity belongs to the monks of St. Basil. It is surrounded by deep
ditches, and ramparts of brick, on which is planted a numerous
artillery. The monks are possessed of all the country round for four
leagues. The imperial family were in full safety there, but more on
account of the strength, than the sanctity of the place. Here Sophia
treated with the rebel knez; and having decoyed him half way, caused his
head to be struck off, together with those of one of his sons, and
thirty-seven strelitzes who accompanied him.

[Sidenote: 1682.]

The body of strelitzes upon this news, fly to arms, and march to attack
the convent of Trinity, threatening to destroy every thing that came in
their way. The imperial family stood upon their defence; the boyards arm
their vassals, all the gentlemen flocked in, and a bloody civil war
seemed on the point of beginning. The patriarch somewhat pacified the
strelitzes, who began to be intimidated with the number of troops that
were marching towards them on all sides: in short, their fury was
changed into fear, and their fear into the most abject submission; a
change common to the multitude. Three thousand seven hundred of this
corps, followed by their wives and children, with ropes tied about their
necks, went in procession to the convent of the Trinity, which three
days before they had threatened to burn to the ground. In this
condition, these unhappy wretches present themselves before the gate of
the convent, two by two, one carrying a block and another an axe; and
prostrating themselves on the ground, waited for their sentence. They
were pardoned upon their submission, and returned back to Moscow,
blessing their sovereigns; and still disposed, though unknown to
themselves, to commit the same crime upon the very first opportunity.

These commotions being subsided, the state resumed an exterior of
tranquillity; but Sophia still remained possessed of the chief
authority, leaving John to his incapacity, and keeping Peter in the
subjection of a ward. In order to strengthen her power, she shared it
with Prince Basil Galitzin, whom she created generalissimo, minister of
state, and lord keeper. Galitzin was in every respect superior to any
person in that distracted court: he was polite, magnificent, full of
great designs, more learned than any of his countrymen, as having
received a much better education, and was even master of the Latin
tongue, which was, at that time, almost entirely unknown in Russia. He
was of an active and indefatigable spirit, had a genius superior to the
times he lived in, and capable, had he had leisure and power, as he had
inclination, to have changed the face of things in Russia. This is the
eulogium given of him by La Neuville, at that time the Polish envoy in
Russia; and the encomiums of foreigners are seldom to be suspected.

This minister bridled the insolence of the strelitzes, by distributing
the most mutinous of that body among the several regiments in the
Ukraine, in Casan, and Siberia. It was under his administration that the
Poles, long the rivals of Russia, gave up, in 1686, all pretensions to
the large provinces of Smolensko and the Ukraine. He was the first who
sent an embassy to France, in 1687; a country which had, for upwards of
twenty years, been in the zenith of its glory, by the conquests, new
establishments, and the magnificence of Lewis XIV. and especially by the
improvement of the arts, there can be not only external grandeur, but
solid glory. France had not then entered into any correspondence with
Russia, or rather was unacquainted with that empire; and the academy of
inscriptions ordered a medal to be struck to commemorate this embassy,
as if it had come from the most distant part of the Indies; but
notwithstanding all this, the ambassador Dolgorouski miscarried in his
negotiation, and even suffered some gross affronts on account of the
behaviour of his domestics, whose mistakes it would have been better to
have overlooked; but the court of Lewis XIV. could not then foresee,
that France and Russia would one day reckon among the number of their
advantages, that of being cemented by the closest union.

Russia was now quiet at home, but she was still pent up on the side of
Sweden, though enlarged towards Poland, her new ally, in continual
alarms on the side of Crim Tartary, and at variance with China in regard
to the frontiers.

The most intolerable circumstance for their empire, and which plainly
shewed, that it had not yet attained to a vigorous and regular
administration, was, that the khan of the Crim Tartars exacted an annual
tribute of 6000 rubles, in the nature of that which the Turk had imposed
on the Poles.

Crim Tartary is the ancient Taurica Chersonesus, formerly so famous by
the commerce of the Greeks, and still more by their fables, a fruitful
but barbarous country. It took its name of Crimea, or Crim, from the
title of its first khans, who took this name before the conquests of the
sons of Gengis Khan. To free his country from this yoke, and wipe off
the disgrace of such tribute, the prime minister, Galitzin, marched in
person (1687, 1688,) into Crim Tartary, at the head of a numerous army.
These armies were not to be compared to the present troops; they had no
discipline; there was hardly one regiment completely armed; they had no
uniform clothing, no regularity: their men indeed were inured to hard
labour and a scarcity of provisions, but then they carried with them
such a prodigious quantity of baggage, as far exceeded any thing of the
kind in our camps, where the greatest luxury prevails. Their vast
numbers of waggons for carrying ammunition and provisions, in an
uninhabitable and desert country, greatly retarded the expedition
against Crim Tartary. The army found itself in the midst of the vast
deserts, on the river Samara, unprovided with magazines. Here Galitzin
did what in my opinion, was never done any where else: he employed
thirty thousand men in building a town on the banks of the Samara, to
serve as a place for magazines in the ensuing campaign: it was begun in
one year, and finished in the third month of the following; the houses
indeed were all wood except two, which were brick; the ramparts were of
turf, but well lined with artillery; and the whole place was in a
tolerable state of defence.

This was all that was done of any consequence in this ruinous
expedition. In the mean while Sophia continued to govern in Moscow,
while John had only the name of czar; and Peter, now at the age of
seventeen, had already the courage to aim at real sovereignty. La
Neuville, the Polish envoy, then resident at Moscow, and who was
eye-witness to all that passed, pretends that Sophia and Galitzin had
engaged the new chief of the strelitzes, to sacrifice to them their
young czar: it appears, at least, that six hundred of these strelitzes
were to have made themselves masters of his person. The private memoirs
which have been entrusted to my perusal by the court of Russia, affirm,
that a scheme had actually been laid to murder Peter the First: the blow
was on the point of being struck, and Russia for ever deprived of the
new existence she has since received. The czar was once more obliged to
take refuge in the convent of the Trinity, the usual asylum of the court
when threatened by the soldiers. There he assembled the boyards of his
party, raised a body of forces, treats with the captains of the
strelitzes, and called in the assistance of certain Germans, who had
been long settled in Moscow, and were all attached to his person from
his having already shewn himself the encourager of strangers. Sophia and
John, who continued at Moscow, used every means to engage the strelitzes
to remain firm to their interests; but the cause of young Peter, who
loudly complained of an attempt meditated against himself and his
mother, prevailed over that of the princess, and of a czar, whose very
aspect alienated all hearts. All the acomplices were punished with a
severity to which that country was as much accustomed as to the crimes
which occasioned it. Some were beheaded after undergoing the punishment
of the knout or battocks. The chief of the strelitzes was put to death
in the same manner, and several other suspected persons had their
tongues cut out. Prince Galitzin escaped with his life, through the
intercession of one of his relations, who was a favourite of czar Peter;
but he was stripped of all his riches, which were immense, and banished
to a place in the neighbourhood of Archangel. La Neuville, who was
present at the whole of this catastrophe, relates, that the sentence
pronounced upon Galitzin was in these terms: 'Thou art commanded, by the
most clement czar, to repair to Karga, a town under the pole, and there
to continue the remainder of thy days. His majesty, out of his extreme
goodness, allows thee three pence per day for thy subsistence.'

There is no town under the pole. Karga is in the 62nd degree of
latitude, and only six degrees and a half further north than Moscow.
Whoever pronounced this sentence must have been a very bad geographer.
La Neuville was probably imposed upon by a false account.

1689.] At length the princess Sophia was once more sent back to her
monastery at Moscow,[28] after having so long held the reins of
government; and this revolution proved, to a woman of her disposition, a
sufficient punishment.

From this instant Peter began to reign in reality; his brother John
having no other share in the government, but that of seeing his name to
all public acts. He led a retired life, and died in 1696.




CHAP. VI.

    The reign of Peter the First.--Beginning of the grand reformation.


Peter the Great was tall, genteel, well made, with a noble aspect,
piercing eyes and a robust constitution, fitted for all kinds of
hardship and bodily exercise. He had a sound understanding, which is the
basis of all real abilities; and to this was joined an active
disposition, which prompted him to undertake and execute the greatest
things. His education was far from being worthy of his genius. The
princess Sophia was, in a peculiar manner, interested to let him remain
in ignorance, and to indulge himself in those excesses which youth,
idleness, custom, and the high rank he held, made but too allowable.
Nevertheless, he had been lately married, (June 1689) like others of his
predecessors, to one of his own subjects, the daughter of colonel
Lapuchin; but, as he was young, and for some time enjoyed none of the
prerogatives of the crown, but that of indulging his pleasures without
restraint, the ties of wedlock were not always sufficient to keep him
within just bounds. The pleasures of the table, in which he indulged
himself rather too freely, with foreigners, who had been invited to
Moscow by prince Galitzin, seemed not to presage that he would one day
become the reformer of his country; however, in spite of bad examples,
and even the allurements of pleasure, he applied himself to the arts of
war and government, and which, even then, shewed that he had the seeds
of greatness in him.

It was still less expected, that a prince, who was subject to such a
constitutional dread of water, as to subject him to cold sweats, and
even convulsions, when he was obliged to cross a small river or brook,
should become one of the best seamen in all the north. In order to
get the better of nature, he began by jumping into the water,
notwithstanding the horror he felt at it, till at length this aversion
was changed into a fondness for that element.[29]

He often blushed at the ignorance in which he had been brought up. He
learned, almost of himself, without the help of a master, enough of
German and high Dutch, to be able to write and explain himself tolerably
well in both those languages. The Germans and Dutch appeared to him as
the most civilized nations, because the former had already erected, in
Moscow, some of those arts and manufactures which he was desirous of
seeing established in his empire, and the latter excelled in the art of
navigation, which he already began to look upon as the most necessary of
all others.

Such were the dispositions which Peter cherished, notwithstanding the
follies of his youth. At the same time, he found himself disturbed by
factions at home, had the turbulent spirit of the strelitzes to keep
under, and an almost uninterrupted war to manage against the Crim
Tartars. For though hostilities had been suspended in 1689, by a truce,
it had no long continuance.

During this interval, Peter became confirmed in his design of
introducing the arts into his country.

His father Alexis had, in his lifetime, entertained the same views, but
he wanted leisure, and a favourable opportunity to carry them into
execution; he transmitted his genius to his son, who was more
clear-sighted, more vigorous, and more unshaken by difficulties and
obstacles.

Alexis had been at a great expense in sending for Bothler,[30] a ship
builder and sea captain, from Holland, together with a number of
shipwrights and sailors. These built a large frigate and a yacht upon
the Wolga, which they navigated down that river to Astracan, where they
were to be employed in building more vessels, for carrying on an
advantageous trade with Persia, by the Caspian Sea. Just at this time
the revolt of Stenko-Rasin broke out, and this rebel destroyed these two
vessels, which he ought to have preserved for his own sake, and murdered
the captain; the rest of the crew fled into Persia, from whence they got
to some settlements belonging to the Dutch East India company. A
master-builder, who was a good shipwright, staid behind in Russia, where
he lived a long time in obscurity.

One day, Peter taking a walk at Ishmaelof, a summer-palace built by his
grandfather, he perceived, among several other rarities, an old English
shallop, which had lain entirely neglected: upon which he asked
Timmerman, a German, and his mathematical teacher, how came that little
boat to be of so different a construction from any he had seen on the
Moska? Timmerman replied, that it was made to go with sails and oars.
The young prince wanted instantly to make a trial of it; but it was
first to be repaired and rigged. Brant, the ship-builder abovementioned,
was by accident found out at Moscow, where he lived retired; he soon put
the boat in order, and worked her upon the river Yauza, which washes the
suburbs of the town.

Peter caused his boat to be removed to a great lake, in the
neighbourhood of the convent of the Trinity; he likewise made Brant
build two more frigates, and three yachts, and piloted them himself. A
considerable time afterwards, viz. in 1694, he made a journey to
Archangel, and having ordered a small vessel to be built in that port,
by the same Brant, he embarked therein on the Frozen Sea, which no
sovereign beside himself had ever beheld. On this occasion, he was
escorted by a Dutch man of war, under the command of captain Jolson, and
attended by all the merchant-vessels then in the port of Archangel. He
had already learned the manner of working a ship; and, notwithstanding
the pains his courtiers took to imitate their master, he was the only
one who made a proficiency in it.

He found it no less difficult to raise a well disciplined body of land
forces, on whom he could depend, than to establish a navy. His first
essay in navigation, on a lake, previous to his journey to Archangel,
was looked upon only as the amusements of a young prince of genius; and
his first attempt to form a body of disciplined troops, likewise
appeared as nothing more than that of diversion. This happened during
the regency of the princess Sophia; and, had he been suspected of
meaning any thing serious by this amusement, it might have been attended
with fatal consequences to him.

He placed his confidence in a foreigner, the celebrated Le Fort, of a
noble and ancient family in Piedmont, transplanted near two centuries
ago to Geneva, where they have filled the most considerable posts in the
state. He was intended to have been brought up to the trade, to which
the town is indebted for the figure it now makes; having formerly been
known only as the seat of religious controversies.

But his genius, which prompted him to the greatest undertakings, engaged
him to quit his father's house at the age of fourteen; and he served
four months[31] in quality of a cadet in the citadel of Marseilles; from
thence he went to Holland, where he served some time as a volunteer, and
was wounded at the siege of Grave, a strong fortified town on the Meuse,
which the prince of Orange, afterwards king of England, retook from
Lewis XIV. in 1674. After this, led by hopes of preferment, wherever he
could find it, he embarked with a German colonel, named Verstin, who had
obtained a commission from Peter's father, the czar Alexis, to raise
soldiers in the Netherlands, and bring them to Archangel. But, when he
arrived at that port, after a most fatiguing and dangerous navigation,
the czar Alexis was no more; the government was changed, and Russia in
confusion. The governor of Archangel suffered Verstin, Le Fort, and his
whole troop, to remain a long time, in the utmost poverty and distress,
and even threatened to send them into the extremity of Siberia; upon
which every man shifted for himself. Le Fort, in want of every thing,
repaired to Moscow, where he waited upon the Danish resident, named De
Horn, who made him his secretary: there he learned the Russian language,
and some time afterwards found means to be introduced to the czar Peter;
the elder brother, Iwan, not being a person for his purpose. Peter was
taken with him, and immediately gave him a company of foot. Le Fort had
seen very little service, he knew but little of letters, not having
studied any particular art or science; but he had seen a great deal, and
had a talent of making the most of what he saw. Like the czar, he owed
every thing to his own genius; he understood the German and Dutch
languages, which Peter was learning, as those of two nations that might
be of service in his designs. Every thing conspired to make him
agreeable to Peter, to whom he strictly attached himself. From being the
companion of his pleasures, he became his favourite, and confirmed
himself in that station by his abilities. The czar made him his
confidant in the most dangerous design that a prince of that country
could possibly form, namely, that of putting himself in a condition to
be able one day to break the seditious and barbarous body of forces
called the strelitzes. It had cost the great sultan or basha Osman his
life, for attempting to disband the janissaries. Peter, young as he was,
went to work in a much abler manner than Osman.

He began with forming, at his country-seat at Preobrazinski, a company
of fifty of his youngest domestics; and some young gentlemen, the sons
of boyards, were chosen for their officers: but, in order to teach these
young noblemen a subordination, to which they were wholly unaccustomed,
he made them pass through all the different military degrees, and
himself set them the example, by serving first as a drum, then as a
private soldier, a serjeant, and a lieutenant of the company. Nothing
was ever more extraordinary, nor more useful, than this conduct. The
Russians had hitherto made war in the same manner as our ancestors at
the time of the feudal tenures, when the unexperienced nobles took the
field at the head of their vassals, undisciplined, and ill armed: a
barbarous method, sufficient indeed to act against the like armies, but
of no use against regular troops.

This company, which was formed wholly by Peter himself, soon increased
in numbers, and became afterwards the regiment of Preobrazinski guards.
Another regiment, formed on the same plan, became in time the regiment
of Semeniousky guards.

The czar had already a regiment of five thousand men that could be
depended upon, trained by general Gordon, a Scotchman, and composed
almost entirely of foreigners. Le Fort, who had borne arms but a short
time, but whose capacity was equal to every thing, undertook to raise a
regiment of twelve thousand men, which he effected: five colonels were
appointed to serve under him, and he saw himself on a sudden general of
this little army, which had been raised, as much to oppose the
strelitzes, as the enemies of the state.

One thing worthy of being remarked,[32] and which fully confutes the
hasty error of those who pretend that France lost very few of its
inhabitants by the revocation of the edict of Nantz, is, that one-third
of his army, which was only called a regiment, consisted of French
refugees. Le Fort disciplined his new troops, as if he had been all his
lifetime a soldier.

Peter was desirous of seeing one of those images of war, the mock
fights, which had lately been introduced in times of peace: a fort was
erected, which was to be attacked by one part of his new troops, and
defended by the other. The difference between this fight, and others of
the like nature, was, that instead of a sham engagement, there was a
real one, in which some of his men were slain, and a great many
wounded.[33] Le Fort, who commanded the attack, received a considerable
wound. These bloody sports were intended to initiate the young troops
into the service of the field; but it required much labour, and even
some degree of sufferings to compass this end.

These warlike amusements did not take off the czar's attention to his
naval project. As he had made Le Fort a general by land, notwithstanding
his having never borne a command; he now made him admiral, though he had
never had the direction of a ship, but he knew him deserving both of the
one and the other. It is true, that he was an admiral without a fleet,
and a general with only his regiment for an army.

By degrees the czar reformed that great abuse in the army, viz. the
independence of the boyards, who, in time of war, used to bring into the
field a multitude of their vassals and peasants: this was exactly the
ancient government of the Franks, Huns, Goths, and Vandals, who indeed
subdued the Roman empire in its state of decline, but would have been
totally destroyed, had they had the warlike disciplined legions of
ancient Rome to encounter, or such armies as are now brought into the
field.

Admiral Le Fort was not long, however, before he had something more than
an empty title. He employed some Dutchmen and Venetians in building a
number of barcolongos, or kind of long barks, and also two ships of
about thirty guns each, at the mouth of the Woronitz, which falls into
the Tanais, or Don: these vessels were to fall down the river, and keep
in awe the Crim Tartars, with whom hostilities had been renewed.

The czar was now to determine (in 1689) against which of the following
powers he would declare war, whether against the Turks, the Swedes, or
the Chinese. But here it will be proper to premise on what terms he then
stood with China, and which was the first treaty of peace concluded by
that nation.




CHAP. VII.

    Congress and Treaty with the Chinese.[34]


We must set out by forming a proper idea of the limits of the Chinese
and Russian empires at this period. When we leave Siberia, properly so
called, and also far behind us to the south, a hundred hordes of
Tartars, with white and black Calmucks, and Mahometan and Pagan Monguls,
we come to the 130th degree of longitude, and the 52d of latitude upon
the river Amur.[35] To the northward is a great chain of mountains, that
stretches as far as the Frozen Sea, beyond the polar circle. This
river, which runs upwards of five hundred leagues,[36] through Siberia
and Chinese Tartary, falls, after many windings, into the sea of
Kamtshatka. It is affirmed for a truth, that at its mouth, which opens
with this sea, there is sometimes caught a monstrous fish, much larger
than the hippopotamus of the Nile, and that the tooth thereof is the
finest ivory. It is furthermore said, that this ivory was formerly an
object of trade; that they used to convey it through Siberia, which is
the reason why several pieces of it are still found under the ground in
that country. This is the most probable account of the fossil ivory, of
which we have elsewhere spoken; for it appears highly chimerical to
pretend, that there were formerly elephants in Siberia.

This Amur is likewise called the Black River by the Mantechoux Tartars,
and the Dragon's River by the Chinese.

It was in these countries, so long unknown, that the Russians and
Chinese contested the limits of their empires.[37] The Russians had some
forts on the river Amur, about three hundred leagues from the great
wall. Many hostilities had arisen between these two nations on account
of these forts: at length both began to understand their interests
better; the emperor Camhi preferred peace and commerce to an
unprofitable war, and sent several ambassadors to Niptchou, one of
those settlements. The ambassadors had ten thousand men in their
retinue, including their escort: this was Asiatic pomp; but what is very
remarkable, is, that there was not an example in the annals of the
empire, of an embassy being sent to another potentate; and what is still
more singular, that the Chinese had never concluded a treaty of peace
since the foundation of their monarchy. Though twice conquered by the
Tartars, who attacked and subjected them, they never made war upon any
people, excepting a few hordes that were quickly subdued, or as quickly
left to themselves, without any treaty. So that this nation, so renowned
for morality, knew nothing of what we call the 'Law of nations;' that is
to say, of those vague rules of war and peace, of the privileges of
foreign ministers, of the formalities of treaties, nor of the
obligations resulting from thence, nor of the disputes concerning
precedency and point of honour.

But in what language were the Chinese to negotiate with the Russians, in
the midst of deserts? This difficulty was removed by two jesuits, the
one a Portuguese, named Pereira, the other a Frenchman, whose name was
Gerbillon; they set out from Pekin with the Chinese ambassadors, and
were themselves the real negotiators. They conferred in Latin with a
German belonging to the Russian embassy, who understood this language.
The chief of that embassy was Golowin, governor of Siberia, who
displayed a greater magnificence than the Chinese themselves, and
thereby gave a high idea of the Russian empire, to a people who thought
themselves the only powerful nation under the sun.

The two jesuits settled the limits of both empires at the river
Kerbechi, near the spot where the treaty was concluded. All the country,
to the southward of this line of partition, was adjudged to the Chinese,
and the north to the Russians, who only lost a small fort which was
found to have been built beyond the limits: a peace was agreed to, and
after some few altercations, both parties swore to observe it, in the
name of the same God;[38] and in these terms, 'If any of us shall
entertain the least thought of kindling anew the flames of war, we
beseech the supreme Lord of all things, and who knows all hearts, to
punish the traitor with sudden death.'

From this form of treaty, used alike by Chinese and Christians, we may
infer two important truths: the first, that the Chinese government is
neither atheistical nor idolatrous, as has been so frequently and
falsely charged upon it, by contradictory imputations. Secondly, that
all nations, who cultivate the gift of reason and understanding, do, in
effect, acknowledge the same God, notwithstanding the particular
deviations of that reason, through the want of being properly
instructed.

The treaty was drawn up in Latin, and two copies were made of it. The
Russian ambassadors set their names the first to the copy that remained
in their possession, and the Chinese also signed theirs the first,
agreeable to the custom observed by European nations, when two equal
powers conclude a treaty with each other. On this occasion was observed
another custom belonging to the Asiatic nations, and which was indeed,
that of the earliest ages. The treaty was engraven on two large marble
pillars, erected on the spot, to determine the boundaries of the two
empires.

Three years after this, the czar sent Isbrand Ides, a Dane, his
ambassador to China; and the commerce he then established between the
two nations, continued with advantage to each, till the rupture between
them in the year 1722; but since this short interruption, it has been
revived with redoubled vigour.




CHAP. VIII.

    Expedition to the Palus Mæotis; conquest of Azoph.--The czar sends
    young gentlemen into foreign countries for improvement.


It was not so easy to have peace with the Turks, and indeed, the time
seemed come for the Russians to rise upon their ruins. The republic of
Venice, that had long groaned under their yoke, began now to rouse
itself. The Doge Morosini, the same who had surrendered Candy to the
Turks, afterwards took from them the Peloponnesus, which conquest got
him the title of Peloponnesian, an honour which revived the memory of
the Roman republic. Leopold, emperor of Germany, had proved successful
against the Ottoman power in Hungary; and the Poles made shift to check
the incursions of the Crim Tartars.

Peter took advantage of these circumstances, to discipline his troops,
and to procure himself the empire of the Black Sea. General Gordon
marched along the Tanais, towards Azoph, with his numerous regiment of
five thousand men, followed by general Le Fort, with his regiment of
twelve thousand; by a body of Strelitzes, under the command of Sheremeto
and Schein, natives of Prussia; by a body of Cossacks, and by a large
train of artillery: in a word, every thing was ready for this
expedition.

1694.] This grand army began its march under the command of marshal
Sheremeto, or Scheremetoff, in the beginning of the summer of 1695, to
attack the town of Azoph, at the mouth of the Tanais, and at the
extremity of the Palus Mæotis, now called the Zaback Sea. The czar
himself was with the army, but only in quality of a volunteer, being
determined to learn, some time before he took upon him to command.
During their march, they stormed two forts which the Turks had built on
the banks of the river.

This expedition was attended with some considerable difficulties. The
place was well fortified, and defended by a numerous garrison. A number
of barcolongos, resembling the Turkish saicks, and built by Venetians,
with two small Dutch ships of war, that were to sail out of the
Woronitz, could not be got ready soon enough to enter the sea of Azoph.
All beginnings meet with obstacles. The Russians had never yet made a
regular siege; and the first attempt did not meet with all the success
that could be desired.

One Jacob, a native of Dantzic, had the direction of the artillery,
under the command of general Schein; for as yet they had none but
foreign officers belonging to the train, and none but foreign engineers
and pilots. This Jacob had been condemned to the bastinade, or _knout_,
by Schein, the Russian general. At that time rigorous discipline was
thought to be the only method of strengthening command; and the Russians
quietly submitted to it, notwithstanding their natural bent to sedition;
and after the punishment, did their duty as usual. But the Dane thought
in a different manner, and resolved to be revenged for the treatment he
had received, and thereupon nailed up the cannon, deserted to the Turks,
turned Mahometan, and defended Azoph, with great success, against his
former masters. This instance shews, that the lenity which is now
practised in Russia, is much preferable to the former severities; and is
better calculated to retain those in their duty, who by a good
education, have a proper sense of honour. It was absolutely necessary at
that time, to use the utmost rigour towards the common people; but since
their manners have been changed, the empress Elizabeth[39] has
completed, by clemency, the work her father begun, by the authority of
the laws. This lenity has even been carried, by this princess, to a
degree unexampled, in the history of any nation. She has promised, that,
during her reign, no person shall be punished with death, and she has
kept her word. She is the first sovereign who ever shewed so much regard
for the lives of men. By an institution, equally prudent and humane,
malefactors are now condemned to serve in the mines, and other public
works: by which means their very punishments prove of service to the
state. In other countries, they know only how to put a criminal to
death, with all the apparatus of execution, without being able to
prevent the perpetration of crimes. The apprehension of death makes,
perhaps, less impression on those miscreants, who are, for the most
part, bred up in idleness, than the fear of punishment and hard labour,
renewed every day.

To return to the siege of Azoph, which place was now defended by the
same person who had before directed the attacks against it; the
Russians, in vain, attempted to take it by storm; and after losing a
great number of men, were obliged to raise the siege.

Perseverance in his undertakings, was the distinguishing character of
Peter the Great. In the spring of 1696, he brought a still more
considerable army before Azoph. About this time died czar John, his
brother, who though he had not, while living, been the least curb to
Peter's authority, having enjoyed only the bare title of czar, yet he
had been some restraint upon him in regard to appearances. The money
which had been appropriated to the support of John's dignity and
household, were now applied to the maintenance of the army. This proved
no small help to a government, whose revenues were not near so great as
they are at present. Peter wrote to the emperor Leopold, to the
states-general, and to the elector of Brandenburg, to obtain engineers,
gunners, and seamen. He likewise took some Calmucks into his pay, whose
light horse are very useful against the Crim Tartars.

The most agreeable of the czar's successes, was that of his little
fleet, which was at length completed, and well commanded. It defeated
the Turkish saicks, sent from Constantinople, and took some of them. The
siege was carried on regularly by trenches, but not altogether in our
method; the trenches being three times deeper than ours, with parapets
as high as ramparts. At length the garrison surrendered, the 28th of
July, 1696. N. S. without being allowed the honours of war, or to carry
out with them either arms or ammunition: they were likewise obliged to
deliver up the renegade, Jacob, to the conquerors.

The czar immediately set about fortifying Azoph, built strong forts to
protect it, and made a harbour capable of holding large vessels, with a
design to make himself master of the Streights of Caffa, or the
Cimmerian Bosphorus, which commands the entrance into the Pontus
Euxinus, or Black Sea; places famous in ancient times, by the naval
armaments of Mithridates. He left thirty-two armed saicks before
Azoph,[40] and made all the necessary preparations for fitting out a
fleet against the Turks, to consist of nine ships of sixty guns, and of
forty-one, from thirty to fifty. He obliged his principal nobles, and
the richer merchants, to contribute towards this armament; and thinking
that the estates of the clergy ought to help towards the common cause,
he obliged the patriarch, the bishops, and principal clergy, to pay down
a sum of ready money to forward this expedition, in honour of their
country, and the advantage of the Christian faith. The Cossacks were
employed in building a number of those light boats in use amongst them,
and which were excellent for the purpose of cruising on the coast of
Crim Tartary. The Ottoman empire was alarmed at this powerful armament;
the first that had ever been attempted on the Palus Mæotis. The czar's
scheme was to drive the Turks and the Tartars for ever out of the
Taurica Chersonesus, and afterwards to establish a free and easy
commerce with Persia through Georgia. This is the very trade which the
Greeks formerly carried on to Colchos, and to this peninsula of Crim
Tartary, which Peter now seemed on the point of conquering.

Having subdued the Turks and the Tartars, he was willing to accustom his
people to splendid shows as well as to military labour. He made his
army to enter into Moscow, under triumphal arches, in the midst of
superb fire-works, and every thing that could add to the lustre of the
festival. The soldiers who had fought on board the Venetian saicks
against the Turks, and who were a distinct corps of themselves, marched
first. Marshal Sheremeto, the generals Gordon and Schein, admiral Le
Fort, and the other general officers, all took the precedence of their
monarch in this procession, who declared he had no rank in the army,
being desirous to convince the nobility, by his example, that the only
way to acquire military preferment, was to deserve it.[41]

This triumphal entry seemed somewhat a-kin to those of the ancient
Romans, in which the conquerors were wont to expose the prisoners they
had taken, to public view, and sometimes put them to death: in like
manner, the slaves, taken in this expedition, follow the army; and the
deserter Jacob, who had betrayed them, was drawn in an open cart, in
which was a gibbet, to which his body was fastened after he had been
broke upon the wheel.

On this occasion was struck the first medal in Russia, with this
remarkable legend, in the language of the country. 'Peter the First,
august emperor of Muscovy.' On the reverse was the city of Azoph, with
these words; 'Victorious by Fire and Water.'

Peter felt a sensible concern in the midst of all these successes, that
his ships and gallies in the sea of Azoph, had been built entirely by
the hands of foreigners; and wished as earnestly to have a harbour in
the Baltic Sea, as upon the Pontus Euxinus.

Accordingly, in the month of March 1677, he sent threescore young
Russians of Le Fort's regiment, into Italy, most of them to Venice, and
the rest to Leghorn, to instruct themselves in the naval art, and the
manner of constructing gallies. He likewise sent forty others into
Holland,[42] to learn the method of building and working large ships:
and others likewise into Germany, to serve in the land forces, and
instruct themselves in the military discipline of that nation. At length
he took a resolution to absent himself for a few years from his own
dominions, in order to learn how to govern them the better. He had an
irresistible inclination to improve himself by his own observation and
practice in the knowledge of naval affairs, and of the several arts
which he was so desirous to establish in his own country. He proposed to
travel _incognito_ through Denmark, Brandenburg, Holland, Vienna,
Venice, and Rome. France and Spain were the only countries he did not
take into his plan; Spain, because the arts he was in quest of, were too
much neglected there; and France, because in that kingdom they reigned
with too much ostentation, and that the parade and state of Lewis XIV.
which had disgusted so many crowned heads, ill agreed with the private
manner in which he proposed to travel. Moreover, he was in alliance
with most of the powers, whose dominions he intended to visit, except
those of France and Rome. He likewise remembered, with some degree of
resentment, the little respect shewn by Lewis XIV. to his embassy in
1687, which had proved more famous than successful; and lastly he
already began to espouse the cause of Augustus, elector of Saxony, with
whom the prince of Conti had lately entered into a competition for the
crown of Poland.




CHAP. IX.

    Travels of Peter the Great.


[Sidenote: 1697.]

Having thus determined to visit the several countries and courts
above-mentioned in a private character, he put himself into the retinue
of three ambassadors, in the same manner as he had before mingled in the
train of his generals at his triumphant entry into Moscow.

[43] The three ambassadors were, general Le Fort, the boyard Alexis
Gollowin, commissary-general of war, and governor of Siberia, the same
who signed the perpetual treaty of peace with the plenipotentiaries
of China, on the frontiers of that empire; and Wonitzin, diak, or
secretary of state, who had been long employed in foreign courts. Four
principal secretaries, twelve gentlemen, two pages for each ambassador,
a company of fifty guards, with their officers, all of the regiment
of Preobrazinski, composed the chief retinue of this embassy, which
consisted in the whole of two hundred persons; and the czar, reserving
to himself only one valet de chambre, a servant in livery, and a dwarf,
mingled with the crowd. It was a thing unparalleled in history, for a
king of five-and-twenty years of age, to quit his dominions, in order
to learn the art of governing. His victory over the Turks and Tartars,
the splendour of his triumphant entry into Moscow, the number of foreign
troops attached to his service, the death of his brother John, his
co-partner in the empire, and the confinement of the princess Sophia to
a cloister, and above all the universal respect shewn to his person,
seemed to assure him the tranquillity of his kingdom during his absence.
He intrusted the regency in the hands of the boyard Strechnef, and the
knez or prince Romadonowski, who were to deliberate with the rest of the
boyards in cases of importance.

Two troops raised by general Gordon remained behind in Moscow, to keep
every thing quiet in that capital. Those strelitzes, who were thought
likely to create a disturbance, were distributed in the frontiers of
Crim Tartary, to preserve the conquest of Azoph, and to check the
incursions of the Tartars. Having provided against every incident, he
gave a free scope to his passion and desire of improvement.

As this journey proved the cause, or at least the pretext, of the bloody
war, which so long traversed, but in the end promoted, all the designs
of the czar; which drove Augustus, king of Poland, from the throne;
placed that crown on the head of Stanislaus, and then stript him of it;
which made Charles XII. king of Sweden, the first of conquerors for nine
years, and the most unfortunate of kings for nine more; it is necessary,
in order to enter into a detail of these events, to take a view of the
state of Europe at that time.

Sultan Mustapha II. sat at that time on the Ottoman throne; the weakness
of whose administration would not permit him to make any great efforts,
either against Leopold, emperor of Germany, whose arms were successful
in Hungary, nor against the czar, who had lately taken Azoph from him,
and threatened to make himself master of the Pontus Euxinus; nor even
against the Venetians, who had made themselves masters of all the
Peloponnesus.

John Sobieski, king of Poland, for ever famous by the victory of
Chocksim, and the deliverance of Vienna, died the 17th of June, 1696,
and the possession of that crown was in dispute between Augustus,
elector of Saxony, who obtained it, and Armond, prince of Conti, who had
only the honour of being elected.

1697.] Sweden had lately lost, but without regret, Charles XI. her
sovereign, who was the first king who had ever been really absolute in
that country, and who was the father of a prince still more so, and with
whom all despotic power ceased. He left the crown to his son Charles
XII. a youth of only fifteen years of age. This was in all appearance a
conjuncture the most favourable for the czar's design; he had it in his
power to extend his dominions on the Gulf of Finland, and on the side of
Livonia. But he did not think it enough to harass the Turks on the Black
Sea; the settlements on the Palus Mæotis, and the borders of the Caspian
Sea, were not sufficient to answer his schemes of navigation, commerce,
and power. Besides, glory, which is the darling object of every
reformer, was to be found neither in Persia, nor in Turkey, but in our
parts of Europe, where great talents are rendered immortal. In a word,
Peter did not aim at introducing either the Persian or Turkish manners
among his subjects.

Germany, then at war both with the Turks and with the French, and united
with Spain, England, and Holland, against the single power of Lewis XIV.
was on the point of concluding peace, and the plenipotentiaries were
already met at the castle of Ryswick, in the neighbourhood of the Hague.

It was during this situation of affairs, that Peter and his ambassador
began their journey in the month of April, 1697, by the way of Great
Novogorod: from thence they travelled through Esthonia and Livonia,
provinces formerly disputed by the Russians, Swedes, and Poles, and
which the Swedes at last acquired by superiority of arms.

The fertility of Livonia, and the situation of its capital, Riga, were
temptations to the czar, to possess himself of that country. He
expressed a curiosity to see the fortifications of the citadel. But
count D'Alberg, governor of Riga, taking umbrage at this request,
refused him the satisfaction he desired, and affected to treat the
embassy with contempt. This behaviour did not at all contribute to cool
the inclination the czar might have, to make himself one day master of
those provinces.

From Livonia they proceeded to Brandenburg-Prussia, part of which had
been inhabited by the ancient Vandals; Polish Prussia had been included
in European Sarmatia. Brandenburg-Prussia was a poor country and badly
peopled; but its elector, who afterwards took the name of king,
displayed a magnificence on this occasion, equally new and destructive
to his dominions. He piqued himself upon receiving this embassy in his
city of Konigsberg, with all the pomp of royalty. The most sumptuous
presents were made on both sides. The contrast between the French dress
which the court of Berlin affected, and the long Asiatic robes of the
Russians, with their caps buttoned up with pearls and diamonds, and
their scimitars hanging at their belts, produced a singular effect. The
czar was dressed after the German fashion. The prince of Georgia, who
accompanied him, was clad in a Persian habit, which displayed a
different magnificence. This is the same who was taken prisoner
afterwards at the battle of Narva, and died in Sweden.

Peter despised all this ostentation; it was to have been wished that he
had shewn an equal contempt for the pleasures of the table, in which the
Germans, at that time, placed their chiefest glory. It was at one of
those entertainments,[44] then too much in fashion, and which are alike
fatal to health and morality, that he drew his sword upon his favourite,
Le Fort; but he expressed as much contrition for this sudden sally of
passion, as Alexander did for the murder of Clytus; he asked pardon of
Le Fort, saying, that he wanted to reform his subjects, and could not
yet reform himself. General Le Fort, in his manuscript praises the czar
more for this goodness of heart, than he blames him for his excess of
passion.

The ambassadors then went through Pomerania and Berlin; and, from
thence, one part took its way through Magdeburg, and the other by
Hamburg, a city which already began to be considerable by its extensive
commerce, but not so rich and populous as it has become since. From
thence they directed their route towards Minden, crossed Westphalia, and
at length, by the way of Cleves, arrived at Amsterdam.

The czar reached this city fifteen days before the ambassadors. At his
first coming, he lodged in a house belonging to the East India company;
but soon afterwards he took a small apartment in the dock-yard,
belonging to the admiralty. He then put on the habit of a Dutch skipper,
and in that dress went to the village of Saardam, a place where a great
many more ships were built at that times, than at present. This village
is as large, as populous, and as rich, and much neater, than many
opulent towns. The czar greatly admired the multitude of people who were
constantly employed there, the order and regularity of their times of
working, the prodigious dispatch with which they built and fitted out
ships, the incredible number of warehouses, and machines, for the
greater ease and security of labour. The czar began with purchasing a
bark, to which he made a mast with his own hands; after that, he worked
upon all the different parts in the construction of a vessel, living in
the same manner as the workmen at Saardam, dressing and eating the same
as them, and working in the forges, the rope-walks, and in the several
mills, which are in prodigious numbers in that village, for sawing
timber, extracting oil, making paper, and wire-drawing. He caused
himself to be enrolled in the list of carpenters, by the name of Peter
Michaelhoff, and was commonly called Peter Bas, or Master Peter: the
workmen were at first confounded at having a crowned head for a
fellow-labourer, but soon became familiarized to the sight.

While he was thus handling the compass and the axe at Saardam, a
confirmation was brought him of the division in Poland, and of the
double nomination of the elector Augustus, and the prince of Conti. The
carpenter of Saardam immediately promised king Augustus to assist him
with thirty thousand men; and, from his work-loft, issued out orders to
his army that was assembled in the Ukraine against the Turks.

11th Aug. 1697.] His troops gained a victory over the Tartars near
Azoph, and a few months afterwards took from them the city of Or, or
Orkapi, which we call Precop.[45] As to himself, he still continued
improving in different arts: he went frequently from Saardam to
Amsterdam, to hear the lectures of the celebrated anatomist, Ruysch; and
made himself master of several operations in surgery, which, in case of
necessity, might be of use both to himself and his officers. He went
through a course of natural philosophy, in the house of the burgomaster
Witzen, a person for ever estimable for his patriotic virtue, and the
noble use he made of his immense riches, which he distributed like a
citizen of the world, sending men of abilities, at a great expense, to
all parts of the globe, in search of whatever was most rare and
valuable, and fitting out vessels at his own charge to make new
discoveries.

Peter Bas gave a truce to his labours for a short time, but it was only
to pay a private visit at Utrecht, and at the Hague, to William, king of
England, and stadtholder of the United Provinces. General Le Fort was
the only one admitted to the private conference of the two monarchs.
Peter assisted afterwards at the public entry of his ambassadors, and at
their audience: they presented, in his name, to the deputy of the
states, six hundred of the most beautiful sables that could be procured;
and the states, over and above the customary presents on these
occasions, of a gold chain and a medal, gave them three magnificent
coaches. They received the first visits of all the plenipotentiaries who
were at the congress of Ryswick, excepting those of France, to whom they
had not notified their arrival, not only because the czar espoused the
cause of Augustus against the prince of Conti, but also because king
William, whose friendship he was desirous of cultivating, was averse to
a peace with France.

At his return to Amsterdam he resumed his former occupations, and
completed with his own hands, a ship of sixty guns, that he had begun
himself, and sent her to Archangel; which was the only port he had at
that time on the ocean.

He not only engaged in his service several French refugees, Swiss, and
Germans; but he also sent all sorts of artists over to Moscow, and he
previously made a trial of their several abilities himself. There were
few trades or arts which he did not perfectly well understand, in their
minutest branches: he took a particular pleasure in correcting with his
own hands, the geographical maps, which at that time laid down at hazard
the positions of the towns and rivers in his vast dominions, then very
little known. There is still preserved, a map, on which he marked out,
with his own hand, his projected communication of the Caspian and Black
Seas, the execution of which he had given in charge to Mr. Brekel, a
German engineer. The junction of these two seas was indeed a less
difficult enterprise than that of the Ocean and Mediterranean, which was
effected in France; but the very idea of joining the sea of Azoph with
the Caspian, astonished the imagination at that time: but new
establishments in that country became the object of his attention, in
proportion as his successes begat new hopes.

His troops, commanded by general Schein and prince Dolgorowski, had
lately gained a victory over the Tartars near Azoph, and likewise over a
body of janissaries sent by sultan Mustapha to their assistance. (July
1696.) This success served to make him more respected, even by those who
blamed him, as a sovereign, for having quitted his dominions, to turn
workman at Amsterdam. They now saw, that the affairs of the monarch did
not suffer by the labours of the philosopher, the traveller, and the
artificer.

He remained at Amsterdam, constantly employed in his usual occupations
of shipbuilding, engineering, geography, and the practice of natural
philosophy, till the middle of January 1698, and then he set out for
England, but still as one of the retinue of his ambassadors.

King William sent his own yacht to meet him, and two ships of war as
convoy. In England he observed the same manner of living as at Amsterdam
and Saardam; he took an apartment near the king's dockyard, at Deptford,
where he applied himself wholly to gain instruction. The Dutch
builders had only taught him their method, and the practical part of
shipbuilding. In England he found the art better explained; for there
they work according to mathematical proportion. He soon made himself so
perfect in this science, that he was able to give lessons to others. He
began to build a ship according to the English method of construction,
and it proved a prime sailor. The art of watchmaking, which was already
brought to perfection in London, next attracted his attention, and he
made himself complete master of the whole theory. Captain Perry, the
engineer, who followed him from London to Russia, says, that from the
casting of cannon, to the spinning of ropes, there was not any one
branch of trade belonging to a ship that he did not minutely observe,
and even put his hand to, as often as he came into the places where
those trades were carried on.

In order to cultivate his friendship, he was allowed to engage several
English artificers into his service, as he had done in Holland; but,
over and above artificers, he engaged likewise some mathematicians,
which he would not so easily have found in Amsterdam. Ferguson, a
Scotchman, an excellent geometrician, entered into his service, and was
the first person who brought arithmetic into use in the exchequer in
Russia, where before that time, they made use only of the Tartarian
method of reckoning, with balls strung upon a wire; a method which
supplied the place of writing, but was very perplexing and imperfect,
because, after the calculation, there was no method of proving it, in
order to discover any error. The Indian ciphers, which are now in use,
were not introduced among us till the ninth century, by Arabs; and they
did not make their way into the Russian empire till one thousand years
afterwards. Such has been the fate of the arts, to make their progress
slowly round the globe. He took with him two young students from a
mathematical school,[46] and this was the beginning of the marine
academy, founded afterwards by Peter the Great. He observed and
calculated eclipses with Ferguson. Perry, the engineer, though greatly
discontented at not being sufficiently rewarded, acknowledges, that
Peter made himself a proficient in astronomy; that he perfectly well
understood the motions of the heavenly bodies, as well as the laws of
gravitation, by which they are directed. This force, now so evidently
demonstrated, and before the time of the great Newton so little known,
by which all the planets gravitate towards each other, and which retain
them in their orbits, was already become familiar to a sovereign of
Russia, while other countries amused themselves with imaginary vertices,
and, in Galileo's nation, one set of ignorant persons ordered others, as
ignorant, to believe the earth to be immoveable.

Perry set out in order to effect a communication between rivers, to
build bridges, and construct sluices. The czar's plan was to open a
communication by means of canals between the Ocean, the Caspian, and the
Black Seas.

We must not forget to observe, that a set of English merchants, with the
marquis of Caermarthen[47] at their head, gave Peter fifteen thousand
pounds sterling, for the permission of vending tobacco in Russia. The
patriarch, by a mistaken severity, had interdicted this branch of trade;
for the Russian church forbid smoking, as an unclean and sinful action.
Peter, who knew better things, and who, amongst his many projected
changes, meditated a reformation of the church, introduced this
commodity of trade into his dominions.

Before Peter left England, he was entertained by king William with a
spectacle worthy such a guest: this was a mock sea-fight. Little was it
then imagined, that the czar would one day fight a real battle on this
element against the Swedes, and gain naval victories in the Baltic. In
fine, William made him a present of the vessel in which he used to go
over to Holland, called the Royal Transport, a beautiful yacht, and
magnificently adorned. In this vessel Peter returned to Holland the
latter end of 1698, taking with him three captains of ships of war, five
and twenty captains of merchant ships, forty lieutenants, thirty pilots,
as many surgeons, two hundred and fifty gunners, and upwards of three
hundred artificers. This little colony of persons skilful in all
branches, sailed from Holland to Archangel, on board the Royal
Transport, and from thence were distributed into all the different
places where their services were necessary. Those who had been engaged
at Amsterdam went by the way of Narva, which then belonged to the
Swedes.

While he was thus transplanting the arts and manufacture of England and
Holland into his own country, the officers, whom he had sent to Rome,
and other places in Italy, had likewise engaged some artists in his
service. General Sheremeto, who was at the head of his embassy to Italy,
took the tour of Rome, Naples, Venice, and Malta, while the czar
proceeded to Vienna with his other ambassadors. He had now only to view
the military discipline of the Germans, after having seen the English
fleets, and the dock-yards of Holland. Politics had likewise as great a
share in this journey as the desire of instruction. The emperor was his
natural ally against the Turks. Peter had a private audience of Leopold,
and the two monarchs conferred standing, to avoid the trouble of
ceremony.

There happened nothing worthy remark during his stay at Vienna, except
the celebration of the ancient feast of the landlord and landlady, which
had been disused for a considerable time, and which Leopold thought
proper to revive on the czar's account. This feast, which by the Germans
is called Wurtchafft, is celebrated in the following manner:--

The emperor is landlord and the empress landlady, the king of the
Romans, the archdukes and the archduchesses are generally their
assistants: they entertain people of all nations as their guests, who
come dressed after the most ancient fashion of their respective
countries: those who are invited to the feast, draw lots for tickets, on
each of which is written the name of the nation, and the character or
person they are to represent. One perhaps draws a ticket for a Chinese
mandarin; another for a Tartarian mirza; a third a Persian satrap; and a
fourth for a Roman senator; a princess may, by her ticket, be a
gardener's wife, or a milk-maid; a prince a peasant, or a common
soldier. Dances are composed suitable to all those characters, and the
landlord and landlady with their family wait at table. Such was the
ancient institution; but on this occasion[48] Joseph, king of the
Romans, and the countess of Traun, represented the ancient Egyptians.
The archduke Charles, and the countess of Walstein, were dressed like
Flemings in the time of Charles the Fifth. The archduchess Mary
Elizabeth and count Traun were in the habits of Tartars; the archduchess
Josephina and the count of Workslaw were habited like Persians, and the
archduchess Mariamne and prince Maximilian of Hanover in the character
of North Holland peasants. Peter appeared in the dress of a Friesland
boor, and all who spoke to him addressed him in that character, at the
same time talking to him of the great czar of Muscovy. These are
trifling particulars; but whatever revives the remembrance of ancient
manners and customs, is in some degree worthy of being recorded.

Peter was ready to set out from Vienna, in order to proceed to Venice,
to complete his tour of instruction, when he received the news of a
rebellion, which had lately broke out in his dominions.




CHAP. X.

    A conspiracy punished.--The corps of strelitzes abolished,
    alterations in customs, manners, church, and state.


Czar Peter, when he left his dominions to set out on his travels, had
provided against every incident, even that of rebellion. But the great
and serviceable things he had done for his country, proved the very
cause of this rebellion.

Certain old boyards, to whom the ancient customs were still dear, and
some priests, to whom the new ones appeared little better than
sacrilege, began these disturbances, and the old faction of the princess
Sophia took this opportunity to rouse itself anew. It is said, that one
of her sisters, who was confined to the same monastery, contributed not
a little to excite these seditions. Care was taken to spread abroad the
danger to be feared from the introduction of foreigners to instruct the
nation. In short, who would believe, that[49] the permission which the
czar had given to import tobacco into his empire, contrary to the
inclination of the clergy, was one of the chief motives of the
insurrection? Superstition, the scourge of every country, yet the
darling of the multitude, spread itself from the common people to the
strelitzes, who had been scattered on the frontiers of Lithuania: they
assembled in a body, and marched towards Moscow, with the intent to
place the princess Sophia on the throne, and for ever to prevent the
return of a czar who had violated the established customs,[50] by
presuming to travel for instruction among foreigners. The forces
commanded by Schein and Gordon, who were much better disciplined than
the strelitzes, met them fifteen leagues from Moscow, gave them battle,
and entirely defeated them: but this advantage, gained by a foreign
general over the ancient militia, among whom were several of the
burghers of Moscow, contributed still more to irritate the people.

To quell these tumults, the czar sets out privately from Vienna, passes
through Poland, has a private interview with Augustus, concerts measures
with that prince for extending the Russian dominions on the side of the
Baltic, and at length arrived at Moscow, where he surprised every one
with his presence: he then confers rewards on the troops who had
defeated the strelitzes, (Sept. 1698,) of whom the prisons were now
full. If the crimes of these unhappy wretches were great, their
punishment was no less so. Their leaders, with several of their officers
and priests, were condemned to death; some were broken upon the
wheel,[51] and two women were buried alive; upwards of two thousand of
the strelitzes were executed, part of whom were hung round about the
walls of the city, and others put to death in different manners, and
their dead bodies remained exposed for two days in the high roads,[52]
particularly about the monastery where the princesses Sophia and Eudocia
resided.[53] Monuments of stone were erected, on which their crimes and
punishments were set forth. A great number of them who had wives and
children at Moscow, were dispersed with their families into Siberia, the
kingdom of Astracan, and the country of Azoph. This punishment was at
least of service to the state, as they helped to cultivate and people a
large tract of waste land.

Perhaps, if the czar had not found it absolutely necessary to make such
terrible examples, he might have employed part of those strelitzes whom
he put to death, upon the public works; whereas they were now lost both
to him and the state: the lives of men ought to be held in great
estimation, especially in a country where the increase of inhabitants
ought to have been the principal care of the legislature: but he thought
it necessary to terrify and break the spirit of the nation by
executions, and the parade attending them. The entire corps of the
strelitzes, whose number not one of his predecessors had even dared to
think of diminishing, was broke for ever, and their very name abolished.
This change was effected without any resistance, because matters had
been properly prepared beforehand. The Turkish sultan, Osman, as I have
already remarked, was deposed and murdered in the same century, only for
giving the janissaries room to suspect that he intended to lessen their
number. Peter had better success, because he had taken better measures.

Of this powerful and numerous body of the strelitzes, he left only two
feeble regiments, from whom there could no longer be any danger; and yet
these still retaining their old spirit of mutiny, revolted again in
Astracan, in the year 1705, but were quickly suppressed.

But while we are relating Peter's severity in this affair of state, let
us not forget to commemorate the more than equal humanity he shewed some
time afterwards, when he lost his favourite Le Fort, who was snatched
away by an untimely fate, March 12, N. S. 1699, at the age of 46. He
paid him the same funeral honours as are bestowed on the greatest
sovereigns, and assisted himself in the procession, carrying a pike in
his hand, and marching after the captains, in the rank of a lieutenant,
which he held in the deceased general's regiment, hereby setting an
example to his nobles, of the respect due to merit and the military
rank.

After the death of Le Fort, it appeared plainly, that the changes in the
state were not owing to that general, but to the czar himself. Peter had
indeed been confirmed in his design by his several conversations with Le
Fort; but he had formed and executed them all without his assistance.

As soon as he had suppressed the strelitzes, he established regular
regiments on the German model, who were all clothed in a short and
commodious uniform, in the room of those long and troublesome coats,
which they used to wear before; and, at the same time, their exercise
was likewise more regular.

The regiment of Preobrazinski guards was already formed; it had taken
its name from the first company of fifty men, whom the czar had trained
up in his younger days, in his retreat at Preobrazinski, at the time
when his sister Sophia governed the state, and the other regiment of
guards was also established.

As he had himself passed through the lowest degrees in the army, he was
resolved that the sons of his boyards and great men, should serve as
common soldiers before they were made officers. He sent some of the
young nobility on board of his fleet at Woronitz and Azoph, where he
obliged them to serve their apprenticeship as common seamen. No one
dared to dispute the commands of a master who had himself set the
example. The English and Dutch he had brought over with him were
employed in equipping this fleet for sea, in constructing sluices, and
building docks, for careening the ships, and to resume the great work of
joining the Tanais, or Don, and the Wolga, which had been dropped by
Brekel, the German. And now he began to set about his projected
reformations in the council of state, in the revenue, in the church, and
even in society itself.

The affairs of the revenue had been hitherto administered much in the
same manner as in Turkey. Each boyard paid a stipulated sum for his
lands, which he raised upon the peasants, his vassals; the czar
appointed certain burghers and burgomasters to be his receivers, who
were not powerful enough to claim the right of paying only such sums as
they thought proper into the public treasury. This new administration of
the finances, was what cost him the most trouble: he was obliged to try
several methods before he could fix upon a proper one.

The reformation of the church, which in all other countries is looked
upon as so dangerous and difficult an attempt, was not so to him. The
patriarchs had at times opposed the authority of the crown, as well as
the strelitzes; Nicon with insolence, Joachin, one of his successors, in
an artful manner.

The bishops had arrogated the power of life and death, a prerogative
directly contrary to the spirit of religion, and the subordination of
government. This assumed power, which had been of long standing, was now
taken from them. The patriarch Adrian, dying at the close of this
century, Peter declared that there should for the future be no other.

This dignity then was entirely suppressed, and the great income
belonging thereto was united to the public revenue, which stood in need
of this addition. Although the czar did not set himself up as the head
of the Russian church, as the kings of Great Britain have done in regard
to the church of England; yet he was, in fact, absolute master over it,
because the synods did not dare either to disobey the commands of a
despotic sovereign, or to dispute with a prince who had more knowledge
than themselves.

We need only to cast an eye on the preamble to the edict, concerning his
ecclesiastical regulations, issued in 1721, to be convinced that he
acted at once as master and legislator: 'We should deem ourselves guilty
of ingratitude to the Most High, if, after having reformed the military
and civil orders, we neglect the spiritual, &c. For this cause,
following the example of the most ancient kings, who have been famed for
piety, we have taken upon us to make certain wholesome regulations,
touching the clergy.' It is true, he convened a synod for carrying into
execution his ecclesiastical decrees, but the members of this synod, at
entering upon their office, were to take an oath, the form of which had
been drawn up and signed by himself. This was an oath of submission and
obedience, and was conceived in the following terms: 'I swear to be a
faithful and obedient servant and subject to my true and natural
sovereign, and to the august successors whom it shall please him to
nominate, in virtue of the incontestable right of which he is possessed:
I acknowledge him to be the supreme judge of this spiritual college: I
swear by the all-seeing God, that I understand and mean this oath in the
full force and sense, which the words convey to those who read or hear
it.' This oath is much stronger than that of the supremacy in England.
The Russian monarch was not, indeed, one of the fathers of the synod,
but he dictated their laws; and, though he did not touch the holy
censer, he directed the hands that held it.

Previous to this great work, he thought, that in a state like his, which
stood in need of being peopled, the celibacy of the monks was contrary
to nature, and to the public good. It was the ancient custom of the
Russian church, for secular priests to marry at least once in their
lives: they were even obliged so to do: and formerly they ceased to be
priests as soon as they lost their wives. But that a multitude of young
people of both sexes should make a vow of living useless in a cloister,
and at the expense of others, appeared to him a dangerous institution.
He, therefore, ordered that no one should be admitted to a monastic
life, till they were fifty years old, a time of life very rarely subject
to a temptation of this kind; and he forbid any person to be admitted,
at any age soever, who was actually in possession of any public employ.

This regulation has been repealed since his death, because the
government has thought proper to shew more complaisance to the
monasteries: but the patriarchal dignity has never been revived, and its
great revenues are now appropriated to the payment of the troops.

These alterations at first excited some murmurings. A certain priest
wrote, to prove that Peter was antichrist, because he would not admit of
a patriarch; and the art of printing, which the czar encouraged in his
kingdom, was made use of to publish libels against him: but, on the
other hand, there was another priest who started up to prove that Peter
could not be antichrist, because the number 666 was not to be found in
his name, and that he had not the sign of the Beast. All complaints,
however, were soon quieted. Peter, in fact, gave much more to the church
than he took from it; for he made the clergy, by degrees, more regular
and more learned. He founded three colleges at Moscow, where they teach
the languages, and where those who are designed for the priesthood are
obliged to study.

One of the most necessary reforms was the suppression, or at least the
mitigation of the Three Lents, an ancient superstition of the Greek
church, and as prejudicial with respect to those who are employed in
public works, and especially to soldiers, as was the old Jewish
superstition of not fighting on the sabbath-day. Accordingly the czar
dispensed with his workmen and soldiers at least, observing these lents,
in which, though they were not permitted to eat, they were accustomed to
get drunk. He likewise dispensed with their observance of meagre days;
the chaplains of the fleet and army were obliged to set the example,
which they did without much reluctance.

The calendar, another important object. Formerly, in all the countries
of the world, the chiefs of religion had the care of regulating the
year, not only on account of the feasts to be observed, but because, in
ancient times, the priests were the only persons who understood
astronomy.

The year began with the Russians on the 1st of September. Peter ordered,
that it should for the future commence the first day of January, as
among the other nations of Europe. This alteration was to take place in
the year 1700, at the beginning of the century, which he celebrated by a
jubilee, and other grand solemnities. It was a matter of surprise, to
the common people, how the czar should be able to change the course of
the sun. Some obstinate persons, persuaded that God had created the
world in September, continued their old style: but the alteration took
place in all the public offices, in the whole court of chancery, and in
a little time throughout the whole empire. Peter did not adopt the
Gregorian calendar, because it had been rejected by the English
mathematicians; but which must, nevertheless, be one day received in all
countries.

Ever since the 5th century, the time when letters first came into use
amongst them, they had been accustomed to write upon long rolls, made
either of the bark of trees, or of parchment, and afterwards of paper;
and the czar was obliged to publish an edict, ordering every one, for
the future, to write after our manner.

The reformation now became general. Their marriages were made formerly
after the same manner as in Turkey and Persia, where the bridegroom does
not see his bride till the contract is signed, and they can no longer go
from their words. This custom may do well enough among those people,
where polygamy prevails, and where the women are always shut up; but it
is a very bad one in countries where a man is confined to one wife, and
where divorces are seldom allowed.

The czar was willing to accustom his people to the manners and customs
of the nations which he had visited in his travels, and from whence he
had taken the masters who were now instructing them.

It appeared necessary that the Russians should not be dressed in a
different manner from those who were teaching them the arts and
sciences; because the aversion to strangers, which is but too natural to
mankind, is not a little kept up by a difference of dress. The full
dress, which at that time partook of the fashions of the Poles, the
Tartars, and the ancient Hungarians, was, as we have elsewhere observed,
very noble; but the dress of the burghers and common people resembled
those jackets plaited round the waist, which are still given to the poor
children in some of the French hospitals.[54] In general, the robe was
formerly the dress of all nations, as being a garment that required the
least trouble and art; and, for the same reason, the beard was suffered
to grow. The czar met with but little difficulty in introducing our mode
of dress, and the custom of shaving among his courtiers; but the people
were more obstinate, he found himself obliged to lay a tax on long coats
and beards. Patterns of close-bodied coats were hung up in public
places; and whoever refused to pay the tax were obliged to suffer their
robes and their beards to be curtailed: all this was done in a jocular
manner, and this air of pleasantry prevented seditions.

It has ever been the aim of all legislators to render mankind more
sociable; but it is not sufficient to effect this end, that they live
together in towns, there must be a mutual intercourse of civility. This
intercourse sweetens all the bitterness of life. The czar, therefore,
introduced those assemblies which the Italians call _ridotti_. To these
assemblies he invited all the ladies of his court, with their daughters;
and they were to appear dressed after the fashions of the southern
nations of Europe. He was even himself at the pains of drawing up
rules for all the little decorums to be observed at these social
entertainments. Thus, even to good breeding among his subjects, all was
his own work, and that of time.

To make his people relish these innovations the better, he abolished the
word _golut_, _slave_, always made use of by the Russians when they
addressed their czar, or presented any petition to him; and ordered,
that, for the future, they should make use of the word _raab_, which
signifies _subject_. This alteration in no wise diminished the obedience
due to the sovereign, and yet was the most ready means of conciliating
their affections. Every month produced some new change or institution.
He carried his attention even to the ordering painted posts to be set up
in the road between Moscow and Woronitz, to serve as mile stones at the
distance of every verst; that is to say, every seven hundred paces, and
had a kind of caravanseras, or public inns, built at the end of every
twentieth verst.

While he was thus extending his cares to the common people, to the
merchants, and to the traveller, he thought proper to make an addition
to the pomp and splendour of his own court; for though he hated pomp or
show in his own person, he thought it necessary in those about him; he
therefore instituted the order of St. Andrew,[55] in imitation of the
several orders with which all the courts of Europe abound. Golowin, who
succeeded Le Fort in the dignity of high admiral, was the first knight
of this order. It was esteemed a high reward to have the honour of being
admitted a member. It was a kind of badge that entitled the person who
bore it to the respect of the people. This mark of honour costs nothing
to the sovereign, and flatters the self-love of a subject, without
rendering him too powerful.

These many useful innovations were received with applause by the wiser
part of the nation; and the murmurings and complaints of those who
adhered to the ancient customs were drowned in the acclamations of men
of sound judgment.

While Peter was thus beginning a new creation in the interior part of
his state, he concluded an advantageous truce with the Turks, which gave
him the liberty to extend his territories on another side. Mustapha the
Second, who had been defeated by prince Eugene, at the battle of Zeuta,
in 1697, stripped of the Morea by the Venetians, and unable to defend
Azoph, was obliged to make peace with his victorious enemies, which
peace was concluded at Carlowitz, (Jan. 26, 1699,) between Peterwaradin
and Salankamon, places made famous by his defeats. Temeswaer was made
the boundary of the German possessions, and of the Ottoman dominions.
Kaminieck was restored to the Poles; the Morea, and some towns in
Dalmatia, which had been taken by the Venetians, remained in their hands
for some time; and Peter the First continued in possession of Casaph,
and of a few forts built in its neighbourhood.

It was not possible for the czar to extend his dominions on the side of
Turkey, without drawing upon him the forces of that empire, before
divided, but now united. His naval projects were too vast for the Palus
Mæotis, and the settlements on the Caspian Sea would not admit of a
fleet of men of war: he therefore turned his views towards the Baltic
Sea, but without relinquishing those in regard to the Tanais and Wolga.




CHAP. XI.

    War with Sweden.--The battle of Narva.


[Sidenote: 1700.]

A grand scene was now opened on the frontiers of Sweden. One of the
principal causes of all the revolutions which happened from Ingria, as
far as Dresden, and which laid waste so many countries for the space of
eighteen years, was the abuse of the supreme power, by Charles XI. king
of Sweden, father of Charles XII. This is a fact which cannot be too
often repeated, as it concerns every crowned head, and the subjects of
every nation. Almost all Livonia, with the whole of Esthonia, had been
ceded by the Poles to Charles XI. king of Sweden, who succeeded Charles
X. exactly at the time of the treaty of Oliva. It was ceded in the
customary manner, with a reservation of rights and privileges. Charles
XI. shewing little regard to these privileges, John Reinhold Patkul, a
gentleman of Livonia, came to Stockholm in 1692, at the head of six
deputies from the province, and laid their complaints at the foot of the
throne, in respectful, but strong terms.[56] Instead of an answer, the
deputies were ordered to be imprisoned, and Patkul was condemned to lose
his honour and his life. But he lost neither, for he made his escape to
the country of Vaud, in Switzerland, where he remained some time; when
he afterwards was informed, that Augustus, elector of Saxony, had
promised, at his accession to the throne of Poland, to recover the
provinces that had been wrested from that kingdom; he hastened to
Dresden, to represent to that prince, how easily he might make himself
master of Livonia, and revenge upon a king, only seventeen years of age,
the losses that Poland had sustained by his ancestors.

At this very time czar Peter entertained thoughts of seizing upon Ingria
and Carelia. These provinces had formerly belonged to the Russians, but
the Swedes had made themselves masters of them by force of arms, in the
time of the false Demetriuses, and had retained the possession of them
by treaties: another war and new treaties might restore them again to
Russia. Patkul went from Dresden to Moscow, and, by exciting up the two
monarchs to avenge his private causes, he cemented a close union between
them, and directed their preparations for invading all the places
situated to the east and south of Finland.

Just at this period, the new king of Denmark, Frederick IV. entered into
an alliance with the czar and the king of Poland, against Charles, the
young king of Sweden, who seemed in no condition to withstand their
united forces. Patkul had the satisfaction of besieging the Swedes in
Riga, the capital of Livonia, and directing the attack in quality of
major-general.

The czar marched near eighty thousand men into Ingria. It is true, that,
in this numerous army, he had not more than twelve thousand good
soldiers, being those he had disciplined himself; namely, the two
regiments of guards, and some few others, the rest being a badly armed
militia, with some Cossacks, and Circassian Tartars; but he carried
with him a train of a hundred and forty-five pieces of cannon. He laid
siege to Narva, a small town in Ingria, that had a very commodious
harbour, and it was generally thought the place would prove an easy
conquest.

Sept.] It is known to all Europe, how Charles XII. when not quite
eighteen years of age, made head against all his enemies, and attacked
them one after another; he entered Denmark, put an end to the war in
that kingdom in less than six weeks, sent succours to Riga, obliged the
enemy to raise the siege, and marched against the Russians encamped
before Narva, through the midst of ice and snow, in the month of
November.

The czar, who looked upon Narva as already in his possession, was gone
to Novogorod, (Nov. 18,) and had taken with him his favourite,
Menzikoff, then a lieutenant in the company of bombardiers, of the
Preobrazinski regiment, and afterwards raised to the rank of
field-marshal and prince; a man whose singular fortunes entitle him to
be spoken of more at large in another place.

Peter left the command of the army, with his instructions for the siege,
with the prince of Croi; whose family came from Flanders, and who had
lately entered into the czar's service.[57] Prince Dolgorouki acted as
commissary of the army. The jealousy between these two chiefs, and the
absence of the czar, were partly the occasion of the unparalleled defeat
at Narva.

Charles XII. having landed at Pernau, in Livonia, with his troops, in
the month of October advanced northward to Revel, where he defeated an
advanced body of Russians. He continued his march, and meeting with
another body, routed that likewise. The runaways returned to the camp
before Narva, which they filled with consternation. The month of
November was now far advanced; Narva, though unskilfully besieged, was
on the point of surrendering. The young king of Sweden had not at that
time above nine thousand men with him, and could bring only six pieces
of cannon to oppose to a hundred and forty-five, with which the Russian
intrenchments were defended. All the relations of that time, and all
historians without exception, concur in making the Russian army then
before Narva amount to eighty thousand men. The memoirs with which I
have been furnished say sixty thousand; be that as it may, it is
certain, that Charles had not quite nine thousand; and that this battle
was one of those which have proved, that the greatest victories have
been frequently gained by inferior numbers, ever since the famed one of
Arbela.[58]

Nov. 30.] Charles did not hesitate one moment to attack with his small
troop this army, so greatly superior; and, taking advantage of a violent
wind, and a great storm of snow, which blew directly in the faces of the
Russians, he attacked their intrenchments under cover of some pieces of
cannon, which he had posted advantageously for the purpose. The Russians
had not time to form themselves in the midst of that cloud of snow, that
beat full in their faces, and astonished by the discharge of cannon,
that they could not see, and never imagined how small a number they had
to oppose.

The duke de Croi attempted to give his orders, but prince Dolgorouki
would not receive them. The Russian officers rose upon the German
officers; the duke's secretary, with Colonel Lyon, and several others,
were murdered. Every one abandoned his post; and tumult, confusion, and
a panic of terror, spread through the whole army. The Swedish troops had
nothing more to do, but to cut in pieces those who were flying. Some
threw themselves into the river Narva, where great numbers were drowned;
others threw down their arms, and fell upon their knees before the
conquering Swedes.

The duke de Croi, general Alland, and the rest of the general officers,
dreading the Russians more than the Swedes, went in a body and
surrendered themselves prisoners to count Steinbock. The king of Sweden
now made himself master of all the artillery. Thirty thousand of the
vanquished enemy laid down their arms at his feet, and filed off
bare-headed and disarmed before him. Prince Dolgorouki, and all the
Russian generals, came and surrendered themselves, as well as the
Germans, but did not know till after they had surrendered, that they had
been conquered by eight thousand men. Amongst the prisoners, was the son
of a king of Georgia, whom Charles sent to Stockholm: his name was
Mittelesky Czarovits, or czar's son, an additional proof that the title
of czar, or tzar, had not its original from the Roman Cæsars.

Charles XII. did not lose more than one thousand two hundred men in this
battle. The czar's journal, which has been sent me from Petersburg,
says, that including those who died at the siege of Narva, and in the
battle, and those who were drowned in their flight, the Russians lost no
more than six thousand men. Want of discipline, and a panic that seized
the army, did all the work of that fatal day. The number of those made
prisoners of war, was four times greater than that of the conquerors;
and if we may believe Norberg,[59] count Piper, who was afterwards taken
prisoner by the Russians, reproached them, that the number of their
people made prisoners in the battle, exceeded by eight times the number
of the whole Swedish army. If this is truth, the Swedes must have made
upwards of seventy-two thousand prisoners. This shews how seldom writers
are well informed of particular circumstances. One thing, however,
equally incontestable and extraordinary, is, that the king of Sweden
permitted one half of the Russian soldiers to retire back, after having
disarmed them, and the other half to repass the river, with their arms;
by this unaccountable presumption, restoring to the czar troops that,
being afterwards well disciplined, became invincible.[60]

Charles had all the advantages that could result from a complete
victory. Immense magazines, transports loaded with provisions, posts
evacuated or taken, and the whole country at the mercy of the Swedish
army, were consequences of the fortune of this day. Narva was now
relieved, the shattered remains of the Russian army did not shew
themselves; the whole country as far as Pleskow lay open; the czar
seemed bereft of all resource for carrying on the war; and the king of
Sweden, victor in less than twelve months over the monarchs of Denmark,
Poland, and Russia, was looked upon as the first prince in Europe, at
an age when other princes hardly presume to aspire at reputation. But
the unshaken constancy that made a part of Peter's character, prevented
him from being discouraged in any of his projects.

A Russian bishop composed a prayer to St. Nicholas,[61] on account of
this defeat, which was publicly read in all the churches throughout
Russia. This composition shews the spirit of the times, and the
inexpressible ignorance from which Peter delivered his country. Amongst
other things, it says, that the furious and terrible Swedes were
sorcerers; and complains that St. Nicholas had entirely abandoned his
Russians. The prelates of that country would blush to write such stuff
at present; and, without any offence to the holy St. Nicholas, the
people soon perceived that Peter was the most proper person to be
applied to, to retrieve their losses.




CHAP. XII.

    Resources after the battle of Narva. That disaster entirely
    repaired. Peter gains a victory near the same place. The person who
    was afterwards empress made prisoner at the storming of a town.
    Peter's successes. His triumph at Moscow.[62]

    The years 1701 and 1703.


The czar having, as has been already observed, quitted his army before
Narva, in the end of November, 1700, in order to go and concert matters
with the king of Poland, received the news of the victory gained by the
Swedes, as he was on his way. His constancy in all emergencies was equal
to the intrepidity and valour of Charles. He deferred the conference
with Augustus, and hastened to repair the disordered state of his
affairs. The scattered troops rendezvoused at Great Novogorod, and from
thence marched to Pleskow, on the lake Peipus.

It was not a little matter to be able to stand upon the defensive, after
so severe a check: 'I know very well,' said Peter, 'that the Swedes will
have the advantage of us for some time, but they will teach us at length
to conquer them.'

1701.] Having provided for the present emergency, and ordered recruits
to be raised on every side, he sent to Moscow to cast new cannon, his
own having been all taken before Narva. There being a scarcity of metal,
he took all the bells of the churches, and of the religious houses in
Moscow. This action did not savour much of superstition, but at the same
time it was no mark of impiety. With those bells he made one hundred
large cannon, one hundred and forty-three field-pieces, from three to
six pounders, besides mortars and howitzers, which were all sent to
Pleskow. In other countries the sovereign orders, and others execute;
but here the czar was obliged to see every thing done himself. While he
was hastening these preparations, he entered into a negotiation with the
king of Denmark, who engaged to furnish him with three regiments of
foot, and three of cavalry; an engagement which that monarch could not
fulfil.

As soon as this treaty was signed, he hurried to the theatre of war. He
had an interview with king Augustus, at Birzen, (Feb. 27.) on the
frontiers of Courland and Lithuania. His object was, to confirm that
prince in his resolution of maintaining the war against Charles XII. and
at the same time to engage the Polish Diet to enter into the quarrel. It
is well known, that a king of Poland is no more than the head person in
a republic. The czar had the advantage of being always obeyed; but the
kings of Poland, and England, at present the king of Sweden, are all
obliged to treat with their subjects.[63] Patkul and a few Poles in the
interest of their monarch, assisted at these conferences. Peter promised
to aid them with subsidies, and an army of twenty-five thousand men.
Livonia was to be restored to Poland, in case the diet would concur with
their king, and assist in recovering this province: the diet hearkened
more to their fears, than to the czar's proposals. The Poles were
apprehensive of having their liberties restrained by the Saxons and
Russians, and were still more afraid of Charles XII. It was therefore
agreed by the majority, not to serve their king, and not to fight.

The partisans of Augustus grew enraged against the contrary faction, and
a civil war was lighted up in the kingdom; because their monarch had an
intention to restore to it a considerable province.

Feb.] Peter then had only an impotent ally in king Augustus, and feeble
succours in the Saxon troops; and the terror which Charles XII. inspired
on every side, reduced Peter to the necessity of depending entirely upon
his own strength.

March 1.] After travelling with the greatest expedition from Moscow to
Courland, to confer with Augustus: he posted back from Courland to
Moscow, to forward the accomplishment of his promises. He actually
dispatched Prince Repnin, with four thousand men, to Riga, on the banks
of the Duna, where the Saxon troops were intrenched.

July.] The general consternation was now increased; for Charles, passing
the Duna in spite of all the Saxons, who were advantageously posted on
the opposite side, gained a complete victory over them; and then,
without waiting a moment, he made himself master of Courland, advanced
into Lithuania, and by his presence encouraged the Polish faction that
opposed Augustus.

Peter, notwithstanding all this, still pursued his designs. General
Patkul, who had been the soul of the conference at Birzen, and who had
engaged in his service, procured him some German officers, disciplined
his troops, and supplied the place of general Le Fort: the czar ordered
relays of horses to be provided for all the officers, and even for the
German, Livonian, and Polish soldiers, who came to serve in his armies.
He likewise inspected in person into every particular relating to their
arms, their clothing, and subsistence.

On the confines of Livonia and Esthonia, and to the eastward of the
province of Novogorod, lies the great lake Peipus, which receives the
waters of the river Velika, from out of the middle of Livonia, and gives
rise in its northern part to the river Naiova, that washes the walls of
the town of Narva, near which the Swedes gained their famous victory.
This lake is upwards of thirty leagues in length, and from twelve to
fifteen in breadth. It was necessary to keep a fleet there, to prevent
the Swedish ships from insulting the province of Novogorod; to be ready
to make a descent upon their coasts, and above all, to be a nursery for
seamen. Peter employed the greatest part of the year 1701, in building
on this lake an hundred half gallies, to carry about fifty men each; and
other armed barks were fitted out on the lake Ladoga. He directed all
these operations in person, and set his new sailors to work: those who
had been employed in 1697, at the Palus Mæotis were then stationed near
the Baltic. He frequently quitted those occupations to go to Moscow, and
the rest of the provinces, in order to enforce the observance of the
late customs he had introduced, or to establish new ones.

Those princes who have employed the leisure moments of peace in raising
public works, have acquired to themselves a name: but that Peter, just
after his misfortune at Narva, should apply himself to the junction of
the Baltic, Caspian, and the Black seas, by canals, has crowned him with
more real glory than the most signal victory. It was in the year 1702,
that he began to dig that deep canal, intended to join the Tanais and
the Wolga. Other communications were likewise to be made, by means of
lakes between the Tanais and the Duna; whose waters empty themselves
into the Baltic, in the neighbourhood of Riga. But this latter project
seemed to be still at a great distance, as Peter was far from having
Riga in his possession.

While Charles was laying all Poland waste, Peter caused to be brought
from that kingdom, and from Saxony, a number of shepherds, with their
flocks, in order to have wool fit for making good cloth; he likewise
erected manufactories of linen and paper: gave orders for collecting a
number of artificers; such as smiths, braziers, armourers, and
founders, and the mines of Siberia were ransacked for ore. Thus was he
continually labouring for the embellishment and defence of his
dominions.

Charles pursued the course of his victories, and left a sufficient body
of troops, as he imagined, on the frontiers of the czar's dominions, to
secure all the possessions of Sweden. He had already formed a design to
dethrone Augustus, and afterwards to pursue the czar with his victorious
army to the very gates of Moscow.

There happened several slight engagements in the course of this year,
between the Russians and Swedes, in which the latter did not always
prove superior; and even in those where they had the advantage, the
Russians improved in the art of war. In short, in little more than
twelve months after the battle of Narva, the czar's troops were so well
disciplined, that they defeated one of the best generals belonging to
the king of Sweden.

Peter was then at Pleskow, from whence he detached numerous bodies of
troops, on all sides, to attack the Swedes; who were now defeated by a
native of Russia, and not a foreigner. His general, Sheremeto, by a
skilful manoeuvre, beat up the quarters of the Swedish general,
Slipenbak, in several places, near Derpt, on the frontiers of Livonia;
and at last obtained a victory over that officer himself. (Jan. 11,
1702.) And now, for the first time, the Russians took from the Swedes
four of their colours; which was thought a considerable number.

May.] The lakes Peipus and Ladoga were for some time afterwards the
theatres of sea-fights between the Russians and Swedes; in which the
latter had the same advantages as by land: namely, that of discipline
and long practice; but the Russians had some few successes with their
half gallies, at the lake Peipus, and the field-marshal Sheremeto took a
Swedish frigate.

By means of this lake, the czar kept Livonia and Esthonia in continual
alarms; his gallies frequently landed several regiments in those
provinces; who reimbarked whenever they failed of success, or else
pursued their advantage: the Swedes were twice beaten in the
neighbourhood of Derpt, (June, July,) while they were victorious every
where else.

In all these actions the Russians were always superior in number; for
this reason, Charles XII. who was so successful in every other place,
gave himself little concern about these trifling advantages gained by
the czar: but he should have considered, that these numerous forces of
his rival were every day growing more accustomed to the business of
fighting, and might soon become formidable to himself.

While both parties were thus engaged, by sea and land, in Livonia,
Ingria, and Esthonia, the czar is informed that a Swedish fleet had set
sail, in order to destroy Archangel; upon which he immediately marched
thither, and every one was astonished to hear of him on the coasts of
the Frozen Sea, when he was thought to be at Moscow. He put the town
into a posture of defence, prevented the intended descent, drew the plan
of a citadel, called the New Dwina, laid the first stone, and then
returned to Moscow, and from thence to the seat of war.

Charles made some alliances in Poland; but the Russians, on their side,
made a progress in Ingria and Livonia. Marshal Sheremeto marched to meet
the Swedish army, under the command of Slipenbak, gave that general
battle near the little river Embac, and defeated him, taking sixteen
colours, and twenty pieces of cannon. Norberg places this action on the
first of December, 1701; but the journal of Peter the Great, fixes it on
the nineteenth of July, 1702.

6th Aug.] After this advantage, the Russian general marched onwards,
laid the whole country under contributions, and takes the little town of
Marienburg, on the confines of Ingria and Livonia. There are several
towns of this name in the north of Europe; but this, though it no longer
exists, is more celebrated in history than all the others, by the
adventure of the empress Catherine.

This little town, having surrendered at discretion, the Swedes, who
defended it, either through mistake or design, set fire to the magazine.
The Russians, incensed at this, destroyed the town, and carried away all
the inhabitants. Among the prisoners was a young woman, a native of
Livonia, who had been brought up in the house of a Lutheran minister of
that place, named Gluck, and who afterwards became the sovereign of
those who had taken her captive, and who governed Russia by the name of
the empress Catherine.

There had been many instances before this, of private women being raised
to the throne; nothing was more common in Russia, and in all Asiatic
kingdoms, than for crowned heads to marry their own subjects; but that a
poor stranger, who had been taken prisoner in the storming of a town,
should become the absolute sovereign of that very empire, whither she
was led captive, is an instance which fortune never produced before nor
since in the annals of the world.

The Russian arms proved equally successful in Ingria: for their half
gallies on the lake Ladoga compelled the Swedish fleet to retire to
Wibourg,[64] a town at the other extremity of this great lake, from
whence they could see the siege of the fortress of Notebourg, which was
then carrying on by general Sheremeto. This was an undertaking of much
greater importance than was imagined at that time, as it might open a
communication with the Baltic Sea, the constant aim of Peter the Great.

Notebourg was a strong fortified town, built on an island in the lake
Ladoga, which it entirely commands, and by that means, whoever is in
possession of it, must be masters of that part of the river Neva, which
falls into the sea not far from thence. The Russians bombarded the town
night and day, from the 18th of September to the 12th October; and at
length gave a general assault by three breaches. The Swedish garrison
was reduced to a hundred men only capable of defending the place; and,
what is very astonishing, they did defend it, and obtain, even in the
breach, an honourable capitulation: moreover, colonel Slipenbak, who
commanded there, would not surrender the town, but on condition of being
permitted to send for two Swedish officers from the nearest post, to
examine the breaches (Oct. 16.), in order to be witnesses for him to the
king his master, that eighty-three men, who were all then left of the
garrison capable of bearing arms, besides one hundred and fifty sick and
wounded, did not surrender to a whole army, till it was impossible for
them to fight longer, or to preserve the place. This circumstance alone
shews what sort of an enemy the czar had to contend with, and the
necessity there was of all his great efforts and military discipline. He
distributed gold medals among his officers on this occasion, and gave
rewards to all the private men; except a few, whom he punished for
running away during the assault. Their comrades spit in their faces, and
afterwards shot them to death; thus adding ignominy to punishment.

Notebourg was repaired, and its name changed to that of Shlusselburg, or
the City of the Key; that place being the key of Ingria and Finland. The
first governor was that Menzikoff, whom we have already mentioned, and
who was become an excellent officer, and had merited this honour by his
gallant behaviour during the siege. His example served as an
encouragement to all who have merit without being distinguished by
birth.

After this campaign of 1702, the czar resolved that Sheremeto, and the
officers who had signalized themselves, should make a triumphal entry
into Moscow. (Dec. 17.) All the prisoners taken in this campaign marched
in the train of the victors, who had the Swedish colours and standards
carried before them, together with the flag of the Swedish frigate taken
on the lake Peipus. Peter assisted in the preparations for this
triumphal pomp, as he had shared in the great actions it celebrated.

These shows naturally inspired emulation, otherwise they would have been
no more than idle ostentation. Charles despised every thing of this
kind, and, after the battle of Narva, held his enemies, their efforts,
and their triumphs, in equal contempt.




CHAP. XIII.

    Reformation at Moscow.--Further successes.--Founding of
    Petersburg.--The czar takes Narva, &c.


The short stay which the czar made at Moscow, in the beginning of the
winter 1703, was employed in seeing all his new regulations put into
execution, and in improving the civil as well as the military
government. Even his very amusements were calculated to inspire his
subjects with a taste for the new manner of living he had introduced
amongst them. In this view, he invited all the boyards, and principal
ladies of Moscow, to the marriage of one of his sisters, at which every
one was required to appear dressed after the ancient fashion. A dinner
was served up just in the same manner as those in the sixteenth
century.[65] By an old superstitious custom, no one was to light a fire
on the wedding-day, even in the coldest season. This custom was
rigorously observed upon this occasion. The Russians formerly never
drank wine, but only mead and brandy; no other liquors were permitted on
this day, and, when the guests made complaints, he replied, in a joking
manner, 'This was a custom with your ancestors, and old customs are
always the best.' This raillery contributed greatly to the reformation
of those who preferred past times to the present, at least it put a stop
to their murmurings; and there are several nations that stand in need of
the like example.

A still more useful establishment than any of the rest, was that of a
printing-press, for Russian and Latin types; the implements of which
were all brought from Holland. They began by printing translations in
the Russian language of several books of morality and polite literature.
Ferguson founded schools for geometry, astronomy, and navigation.

Another foundation, no less necessary, was that of a large hospital; not
one of those houses which encourage idleness, and perpetuate the misery
of the people, but such as the czar had seen at Amsterdam, where old
persons and children are employed at work, and where every one within
the walls is made useful in some way or other.

He established several manufactories; and, as soon he had put in motion
all those arts to which he gave birth in Moscow, he hastened to
Woronitz, to give directions for building two ships, of eighty guns
each, with long cradles, or caserns, fitted to the ribs of the vessel,
to buoy her up, and carry her safely over the shoals and banks of sand
that lay about Azoph; an ingenious contrivance, similar to that used by
the Dutch in Holland, to get their large ships over the Pampus.

Having made all the necessary preparations against the Turks, he turned
his attention, in the next place, against the Swedes. He went to visit
the ships that were building at Olonitz (March 30, 1703.), a town
between the lakes Ladago and Onega, where he had established a foundry
for making all kinds of arms; and, when every thing bore a military
aspect, at Moscow flourished all the arts of peace. A spring of mineral
waters, which has been lately discovered near Olonitz, has added to the
reputation of that place. From thence he proceeded to Shlusselburg,
which he fortified.

We have already observed, that Peter was determined to pass regularly
through all the military degrees: he had served as lieutenant of
bombardiers, under prince Menzikoff, before that favourite was made
governor of Shlusselburg, and he now took the rank of captain, and
served under marshal Sheremeto.

There was an important fortress near the lake Ladoga, and not far from
the river Neva, named Nyantz, or Nya.[66] It was necessary to make
himself master of this place, in order to secure his conquest, and
favour his other designs. He therefore undertook to transport a number
of small barks, filled with soldiers, and to drive off the Swedish
vessels that were bringing supplies, while Sheremeto had the care of the
trenches. (May 22.) The citadel surrendered, and two Swedish vessels
arrived, too late to assist the besieged, being both attacked and taken
by the czar. His journal says, that, as a reward for his service, 'The
captain of bombardiers was created knight of the order of St. Andrew by
admiral Golowin, the first knight of that order.'

After the taking of the fort of Nya, he resolved upon building the city
of Petersburg, at the mouth of the Neva, upon the gulf of Finland.

The affairs of king Augustus were in a desperate way; the excessive
victories of the Swedes in Poland had emboldened his enemies in the
opposition; and even his friends had obliged him to dismiss a body of
twenty thousand Russians, that the czar had sent him to reinforce his
army. They thought, by this sacrifice, to deprive the malcontents of all
pretext for joining the king of Sweden: but enemies are disarmed by
force, a show of weakness serving only to make them more insolent. These
twenty thousand men, that had been disciplined by Patkul, proved of
infinite service in Livonia and Ingria, while Augustus was losing his
dominions. This reinforcement, and, above all, the possession of Nya,
enabled the czar to found his new capital.

It was in this barren and marshy spot of ground, which has communication
with the main land only by one way, that Peter laid the foundation of
Petersburg, in the sixtieth degree of latitude, and the forty-fourth and
a half of longitude. The ruins of some of the bastions of Nya was made
use of for the first stones of the foundation.[67] They began by
building a small fort upon one of the islands, which is now in the
centre of the city. The Swedes beheld, without apprehension, a
settlement in the midst of a morass, and inaccessible to vessels of
burden; but, in a very short time, they saw the fortifications advanced,
a town raised, and the little island of Cronstadt, situated over against
it, changed, in 1704, into an impregnable fortress, under the cannon of
which even the largest fleets may ride in safety.

These works, which seemed to require a time of profound peace, were
carried on in the very bosom of war; workmen of every sort were called
together, from Moscow, Astracan, Casan, and the Ukraine, to assist in
building the new city. Neither the difficulties of the ground, that was
to be rendered firm, and raised, the distance of the necessary
materials, the unforeseen obstacles, which are for ever starting up in
all great undertakings; nor, lastly, the epidemical disorder, which
carried off a prodigious number of the workmen, could discourage the
royal founder; and, in the space of five months, a new city rose from
the ground. It is true, indeed, it was little better than a cluster of
huts, with only two brick houses, surrounded by ramparts; but this was
all that was then necessary. Time and perseverance accomplished the
rest. In less than five months, after the founding of Petersburg, a
Dutch ship came to trade there, (Nov.) the captain of which was
handsomely rewarded, and the Dutch soon found the way to Petersburg.

While Peter was directing the establishment of this colony, he took care
to provide every day for its safety, by making himself master of the
neighbouring posts. A Swedish colonel, named Croniort, had taken post on
the river Sestra, and thence threatened the rising city. Peter, without
delay, marched against him with his two regiments of guards, defeated
him, (July 8.) and obliged him to repass the river. Having thus put his
town in safety, he repaired to Olonitz,(Sep.) to give directions for
building a number of small vessels, and afterwards returned to
Petersburg, on board a frigate that had been built by his direction,
taking with him six transport vessels, for present use, till the others
could be got ready. Even at this juncture he did not forget his ally,
the king of Poland, but sent him (Nov.) a reinforcement of twelve
thousand foot, and a subsidy in money of three hundred thousand rubles,
which make about one million five hundred thousand French livres.[68] It
has been remarked, that his annual revenue did not exceed then five
million rubles; a sum, which the expense of his fleets, of his armies,
and of his new establishments, seemed more than sufficient to exhaust.
He had, at almost one and the same time, fortified Novogorod,
Pleskow, Kiow, Smolensko, Azoph, Archangel, and founded a capital.
Notwithstanding all which, he had still a sufficiency left to assist his
ally with men and money. Cornelius le Bruine, a Dutchman, who was on his
travels, and at that time in Russia, and with whom he frequently
conversed very freely, as indeed he did with all strangers, says, that
the czar himself assured him, that he had still three hundred thousand
rubles remaining in his coffers, after all the expenses of the war were
defrayed.

In order to put his infant city of Petersburg out of danger of insult,
he went in person to sound the depth of water thereabouts, fixed upon a
place for building the fort of Cronstadt; and, after making the model of
it in wood with his own hands, he employed prince Menzikoff to put it in
execution. From thence he went to pass the winter at Moscow, (Nov. 5.)
in order to establish, by degrees, the several alterations he had made
in the laws, manners, and customs of Russia. He regulated the finances,
and put them upon a new footing. He expedited the works that were
carrying on in the Woronitz, at Azoph, and in a harbour which he had
caused to be made on the Palus Mæotis, under the fort of Taganrock.

Jan. 1704.] The Ottoman Porte, alarmed at these preparations, sent an
embassy to the czar, complaining thereof: to which he returned for
answer that he was master in his own dominions, as well as the grand
seignior was in Turkey, and that it was no infringement of the peace to
render the Russian power respectable on the Euxine Sea.

March 30.] Upon his return to Petersburg, finding his new citadel of
Cronstadt, which had been founded in the bosom of the sea, completely
finished, he furnished it with the necessary artillery. But, in order to
settle himself firmly in Ingria, and entirely to repair the disgrace he
had suffered before Narva, he esteemed it necessary to take that city.
While he was making preparations for the siege, a small fleet appeared
on the lake of Peipus, to oppose his designs. The Russian half galleys
went out to meet them, gave them battle, and took the whole squadron,
which had on board ninety-eight pieces of cannon. After this victory,
the czar lays siege to Narva both by sea and land, (April.) and, which
was most extraordinary, he lays siege to the city of Derpt in Esthonia
at the same time.

Who would have imagined, that there was a university in Derpt? Gustavus
Adolphus had founded one there, but it did not render that city more
famous, Derpt being only known by these two sieges. Peter was
incessantly going from the one to the other, forwarding the attacks, and
directing all the operations. The Swedish general Slipenbak was in the
neighbourhood of Derpt, with a body of two thousand five hundred men.

The besiegers expected every instant when he would throw succours into
the place; but Peter, on this occasion, had recourse to a stratagem
worthy of more frequent imitation: he ordered two regiments of foot, and
one of horse, to be clothed in the same uniform, and to carry the same
standards and colours as the Swedes: these sham Swedes attack the
trenches, (June 27.) and the Russians pretend to be put to flight; the
garrison, deceived by appearances, make a sally; upon which the mock
combatants join their forces and fall upon the Swedes, one half of whom
were left dead upon the place, and the rest made shift to get back to
the town. Slipenbak arrives soon after with succours to relieve it, but
is totally defeated. At length Derpt was obliged to capitulate, (July
23.) just as the czar was preparing every thing for a general assault.

At the same time Peter met with a considerable check, on the side of his
new city of Petersburg; but this did not prevent him either from going
on with the works of that place, or from vigorously prosecuting the
siege of Narva. It has already been observed, that he sent a
reinforcement of troops and money to king Augustus, when his enemies
were driving him from his throne; but both these aids proved useless.
The Russians having joined the Lithuanians in the interest of Augustus,
were totally defeated in Courland by the Swedish general Levenhaupt:
(July 31.) and had the victors directed their efforts towards Livonia,
Esthonia, and Ingria, they might have destroyed the czar's new works,
and baffled all the fruits of his great undertakings. Peter was every
day sapping the breast-work of Sweden, while Charles seemed to neglect
all resistance, for the pursuit of a less advantageous, though a more
brilliant fame.

On the 13th of July, 1704, only a single Swedish colonel, at the head of
his detachment, obliged the Polish nobility to nominate a new king, on
the field of election, called Kolo, near the city of Warsaw. The
cardinal-primate of the kingdom, and several bishops, submitted to a
Lutheran prince, notwithstanding the menaces and excommunications of the
supreme pontiff: in short, every thing gave way to force. All the world
knows in what manner Stanislaus Leczinsky was elected king, and how
Charles XII. obliged the greatest part of Poland to acknowledge him.

Peter, however, would not abandon the dethroned king, but redoubled his
assistance, in proportion to the necessities of his ally; and, while his
enemy was making kings, he beat the Swedish generals one after another
in Esthonia and Ingria; from thence he passed to the siege of Narva, and
gave several vigorous assaults to the town. There were three bastions,
famous at least for their names, called Victory, Honour, and Glory. The
czar carried them all three sword-in-hand. The besiegers forced their
way into the town, where they pillaged and exercised all those cruelties
which were but too customary at that time, between the Swedes and
Russians.

August 20.] Peter, on this occasion, gave an example that ought to have
gained him the affections of all his new subjects: he ran every where in
person, to put a stop to the pillage and slaughter, rescues several
women out of the clutches of the brutal soldiery, and, after having,
with his own hand, killed two of those ruffians who had refused to obey
his orders, he enters the town-house, whither the citizens had ran in
crowds for shelter, and laying his sword, yet reeking with blood, upon
the table--'This sword,' said he, 'is not stained with the blood of your
fellow citizens, but with that of my own soldiers, which I have spilt to
save your lives'.




CHAP. XIV.

    Peter the Great keeps possession of all Ingria, while Charles XII.
    is triumphant in other places.--Rise of Menzikoff.--Petersburg
    secured.--The czar executes his designs notwithstanding the
    victories of the king of Sweden.[69]


[Sidenote: 1704.]

Peter being now master of all Ingria, conferred the government of that
province upon Menzikoff; and at the same time gave him the title of
prince, and the rank of major-general. Pride and prejudice might, in
other countries, find means to gainsay, that a pastry cook's boy should
be raised to be a general and governor, and to princely dignity; but
Peter had already accustomed his subjects to see, without surprise,
every thing given to merit, and nothing to mere nobility. Menzikoff, by
a lucky accident, had, while a boy, been taken from his original
obscurity, and placed in the czar's family,[70] where he learnt several
languages, and acquired a knowledge of public affairs, both in the
cabinet and field; and having found means to ingratiate himself with his
master, he afterwards knew how to render himself necessary. He greatly
forwarded the works at Petersburg, of which he had the direction;
several brick and stone houses were already built, with an arsenal and
magazines; the fortifications were completed, but the palaces were not
built till some time afterwards.

Peter was scarcely settled in Narva, when he offered fresh succours to
the dethroned king of Poland; he promised him a body of troops over and
above the twelve thousand men he had already sent him, and actually
dispatched general Repnin (Aug. 19.) from the frontiers of Lithuania,
with six thousand horse, and the same number of foot. All this while he
did not lose sight of his colony of Petersburg: the buildings went on
very fast; his navy encreased daily; several ships and frigates were on
the stocks at Olmutz; these he took care to see finished, and brought
them himself into the harbour of Petersburg.

Oct. 11.] Each time he returned to Moscow, was distinguished by
triumphal entries. In this manner did he revisit it this year, from
whence he made only one excursion, to be present at the launching of his
first ship of eighty guns upon the Woronitz, (Dec. 30.) of which ship he
himself had drawn the dimensions the preceding year.

May, 1705.] As soon as the campaign could be opened in Poland, he
hastened to the army, which he had sent to the assistance of Augustus,
on the frontiers of that kingdom; but, while he was thus supporting his
ally, a Swedish fleet put to sea, to destroy Petersburg, and the
fortress of Cronslot, as yet hardly finished. This fleet consisted of
twenty-two ships of war, from fifty-four to sixty-four guns each,
besides six frigates, two bomb-ketches, and two fire-ships. The troops
that were sent on this expedition, made a descent on the little island
of Kotin; but a Russian colonel, named Tolbogwin, who commanded a
regiment there, ordered his soldiers to lie down flat on their bellies,
while the Swedes were coming on shore, and then suddenly rising up, they
threw in so brisk and well directed a fire, that the Swedes were put
into confusion, and forced to retreat with the utmost precipitation to
their ships, leaving behind them all their dead, and upwards of three
hundred prisoners. (June 7.)

However, their fleet still continued hovering about the coast, and
threatened Petersburg. They made another descent, and were repulsed as
before (June 25.): a body of land-forces were also advancing from
Wiburn,[71] under the command of the Swedish general Meidel, and took
their route by Shlusselburg: this was the most considerable attempt that
Charles had yet made upon those territories, which Peter had either
conquered or new formed. The Swedes were every where repulsed, and
Petersburg remained in security.

Peter, on the other hand, advanced towards Courland, with a design to
penetrate as far as Riga. His plan was to make himself master of
Livonia, while Charles XII. was busied in reducing the Poles entirely
under the obedience of the new king he had given them. The czar was
still at Wilnaw in Lithuania, and his general Sheremeto was approaching
towards Mittau, the capital of Courland; but there he was met by general
Levenhaupt, already famous by several victories, and a pitched battle
was fought between the two armies at a place called Gemavershoff, or
Gemavers.

In all those actions where experience and discipline decide the day, the
Swedes, though inferior in number, had the advantage. The Russians were
totally defeated, (June 28.) and lost their artillery. Peter,
notwithstanding the loss of three battles, viz. at Gemavers, at
Jacobstadt, and at Narva, always retrieved his losses, and even
converted them to his advantage.

After the battle of Gemavers, he marched his army into Courland; came
before Mittau, made himself master of the town, and afterwards laid
siege to the citadel, which he took by capitulation.

Sept. 14, 1705.] The Russian troops at that time had the character of
distinguishing their successes by rapine and pillage; a custom of too
great antiquity in all nations. But Peter, at the taking of Narva, had
made such alterations in this custom, that the Russian soldiers
appointed to guard the vaults where the grand dukes of Courland were
buried, in the castle of Mittau, perceiving that the bodies had been
taken out of their tombs, and stripped of their ornaments, refused to
take possession of their post, till a Swedish colonel had been first
sent for to inspect the condition of the place; who gave them a
certificate that this outrage had been committed by the Swedes
themselves.

A rumour which was spread throughout the whole empire, that the czar had
been totally defeated at the battle of Gemavers, proved of greater
prejudice to his affairs, than even the loss of that battle. The
remainder of the ancient strelitzes in garrison at Astracan, emboldened
by this false report, mutinied, and murdered the governor of the town.
Peter was obliged to send marshal Sheremeto with a body of forces to
quell the insurrection, and punish the mutineers.

Every thing seemed now to conspire against the czar; the success and
valour of Charles XII.; the misfortunes of Augustus; the forced
neutrality of Denmark; the insurrection of the ancient strelitzes; the
murmurs of a people, sensible of the restraint, but not of the utility
of the late reform; the discontent of the grandees, who found themselves
subjected to military discipline; and, lastly, the exhausted state of
the finances, were sufficient to have discouraged any prince except
Peter: but he did not despond, even for an instant. He soon quelled the
revolt, and having provided for the safety of Ingria, and secured the
possession of the citadel of Mittau, in spite of the victorious
Levenhaupt, who had not troops enough to oppose him; he found himself at
liberty to march an army through Samojitia and Lithuania.

He now shared with Charles XII. the glory of giving laws to Poland. He
advanced as far as Tikoczin: where he had an interview for the second
time with king Augustus; when he endeavoured to comfort him under his
misfortunes, promising to revenge his cause, and, at the same time, made
him a present of some colours, which Menzikoff had taken from the troops
of his rival. The two monarchs afterwards went together to Grodno, the
capital of Lithuania, where they staid till the 15th of December. At
their parting, Peter presented him both men and money, and then,
according to his usual custom, went to pass some part of the winter at
Moscow, (30 Dec.) to encourage the arts and sciences there, and to
enforce his new laws there, after having made a very difficult and
laborious campaign.




CHAP. XV.

    While Peter is strengthening his conquests, and improving the police
    of his dominion, his enemy Charles XII. gains several battles: gives
    laws to Poland and Saxony, and to Augustus, notwithstanding a
    victory gained by the Russians.--Augustus resigns the crown, and
    delivers up Patkul, the czar's ambassador.--Murder of Patkul, who is
    sentenced to be broke upon the wheel.


[Sidenote: 1706.]

Peter was hardly returned to Moscow, when he heard that Charles XII.
after being every where victorious, was advancing towards Grodno, to
attack the Russian troops. King Augustus had been obliged to fly from
Grodno, and retire with precipitation towards Saxony, with four
regiments of Russian dragoons; a step which both weakened and
discouraged the army of his protector. Peter found all the advances to
Grodno occupied by the Swedes, and his troops dispersed.

While he was with the greatest difficulty assembling his troops in
Lithuania, the famous Schullemburg, who was the last support Augustus
had left, and who afterwards gained so much glory by the defence of
Corfu against the Turks, was advancing on the side of Great Poland, with
about twelve thousand Saxons, and six thousand Russians, taken from the
body troops with which the czar had entrusted that unfortunate prince.
Schullemburg expected with just reason, that he should be able to prop
the sinking fortunes of Augustus; he perceived that Charles XII. was
employed in Lithuania, and that there was only a body of ten thousand
Swedes under general Renschild to interrupt his march; he therefore
advanced with confidence as far as the frontiers of Silesia; which is
the passage out of Saxony into Upper Poland. When he came near the
village of Fraustadt, on the frontiers of that kingdom, he met marshal
Renschild, who was advancing to give him battle.

Whatever care I take to avoid repeating what has been already mentioned
in the history of Charles XII., I am obliged in this place to take
notice once more, that there was in the Saxon army a French regiment,
that had been taken prisoners at the famous battle of Hochsted (or
Blenheim) and obliged to serve in the Saxon troops. My memoirs say, that
this regiment had the charge of the artillery, and add, that the French,
struck with the fame and reputation of Charles XII., and discontented
with the Saxon service, laid down their arms as soon as they came in
sight of the enemy (Feb.), and desired to be taken into the Swedish
army, in which they continued to the end of the war. This defection was
as the beginning, or signal of a total overthrow to the Russian army, of
which no more than three battalions were saved, and almost every man of
these was wounded; and as no quarter was granted, the remainder was cut
in pieces.

Norberg, the chaplain, pretends, that the Swedish word at this battle
was, 'In the name of God,' and that of the Russians, 'Kill all;' but it
was the Swedes who killed all in God's name. The czar himself declares,
in one of his manifestoes,[72] that a number of Russians, Cossacks, and
Calmucks, that had been made prisoners, were murdered in cool blood
three days after that battle. The irregular troops on both sides had
accustomed their generals to these cruelties, than which greater were
never committed in the most barbarous times. I had the honour to hear
king Stanislaus himself say, that in one of those engagements which were
so frequent in Poland, a Russian officer who had formerly been one of
his friends, came to put himself under his protection, after the defeat
of the corps he commanded; and that the Swedish general Steinbock shot
him dead with a pistol, while he held him in his arms.

This was the fourth battle the Russians had lost against the Swedes,
without reckoning the other victories of Charles XII. in Poland. The
czar's troops that were in Grodno, ran the risk of suffering a still
greater disgrace, by being surrounded on all sides; but he fortunately
found means to get them together, and even to strengthen them with new
reinforcements. But necessitated at once to provide for the safety of
this army, and the security of his conquests in Ingria, he ordered
prince Menzikoff to march with the army under his command eastward, and
from thence southward as far as Kiow.

While his men were upon their march, he repairs to Shlusselburg, from
thence to Narva, and to his colony of Petersburg (August), and puts
those places in a posture of defence. From the Baltic he flies to the
banks of the Boristhenes, to enter into Poland by the way of Kiow,
making it still his chief care to render those victories of Charles,
which he had not been able to prevent, of as little advantage to the
victor as possible. At this very time he meditated a new conquest;
namely, that of Wibourg, the capital of Carelia, situated on the gulf of
Finland. He went in person to lay siege to this place, but for this time
it withstood the power of his arms; succours arrived in season, and he
was obliged to raise the siege. (Oct.) His rival, Charles XII. did not,
in fact, make any conquests, though he gained so many battles: he was
at that time in pursuit of king Augustus in Saxony, being always more
intent upon humbling that prince, and crushing him beneath the weight of
his superior power and reputation, than upon recovering Ingria, that had
been wrested from him by a vanquished enemy.

He spread terror through all Upper Poland, Silesia, and Saxony. King
Augustus's whole family, his mother, his wife, his son, and the
principal nobility of the country, were retired into the heart of the
empire. Augustus now sued for peace, choosing rather to trust himself to
the mercy of his conqueror, than in the arms of his protector. He
entered into a treaty which deprived him of the crown of Poland, and
covered him at the same time with ignominy. This was a private treaty,
and was to be concealed from the czar's generals, with whom he had taken
refuge in Poland, while Charles XII. was giving laws in Leipsic, and
acting as absolute master throughout his electorate.

His plenipotentiaries had already signed the fatal treaty (Sept. 14.),
by which he not only divested himself of the crown of Poland, but
promised never more to assume the title of king; at the same time he
recognized Stanislaus, renounced his alliance with the czar his
benefactor; and, to complete his humiliation, engaged to deliver up to
Charles XII. John Reinold Patkul, the czar's ambassador and general in
the Russian service, who was then actually fighting in his cause. He had
some time before ordered Patkul to be arrested upon false suspicions,
contrary to the law of nations; and now, in direct violation of these
laws, he delivered him up to the enemy. It had been better for him to
have died sword-in-hand, than to have concluded such a treaty; a treaty,
which not only robbed him of his crown, and of his reputation, but
likewise endangered his liberty, because he was at that time in the
power of prince Menzikoff in Posnania, and the few Saxons that he had
with him, were paid by the Russians.

Prince Menzikoff was opposed in that district by a Swedish army,
reinforced with a strong party of Poles, in the interest of the new king
Stanislaus, under the command of general Meyerfeld; and not knowing that
Augustus had engaged in a treaty with the enemies of Russia, had
proposed to attack them, and Augustus did not dare to refuse. The battle
was fought near Calish (Oct. 19.), in the palatinate belonging to
Stanislaus; this was the first pitched battle the Russians had gained
against the Swedes. Prince Menzikoff had all the glory of the action,
four thousand of the enemy were left dead on the field, and two thousand
five hundred and ninety-eight were made prisoners.

It is difficult to comprehend how Augustus could be prevailed on, after
this battle, to ratify a treaty which deprived him of all the fruits of
his victory. But Charles was still triumphant in Saxony, where his
very name spread terror. The success of the Russians appeared so
inconsiderable, and the Polish party against Augustus was so strong,
and, in fine, that monarch was so ill-advised, that he signed the fatal
convention. Neither did he stop here: he wrote to his envoy Finkstein a
letter, that was, if possible, more shameful than the treaty itself; for
therein he asked pardon for having obtained a victory, 'protesting, that
the battle had been fought against his will; that the Russians and the
Poles, his adherents, had obliged him to it; that he had, with a view of
preventing it, actually made some movements to abandon Menzikoff; that
Meyerfeld might have beaten him, had he made the most of that
opportunity; that he was ready to restore all the Swedish prisoners, or
to break with the Russians; and that, in fine, he would give the king of
Sweden all possible satisfaction,' for having dared to beat his troops.

This whole affair, unparalleled and inconceivable as it is, is,
nevertheless, strictly true. When we reflect, that, with all this
weakness, Augustus was one of the bravest princes in Europe, we may
plainly perceive, that the loss or preservation, the rise or decline of
empires, are entirely owing to fortitude of mind.

Two other circumstances concurred to complete the disgrace of the king
of Poland elector of Saxony, and heighten the abuse which Charles XII.
made of his good fortune; the first was his obliging Augustus to write a
letter of congratulation to the new king Stanislaus on his election: the
second was terrible, he even compelled Augustus to deliver up Patkul,
the czar's ambassador and general.[73] It is sufficiently known to all
Europe, that this minister was afterwards broke alive upon the wheel at
Casimir, in the month of September, 1707. Norberg, the chaplain,
confesses that the orders for his execution were all written in
Charles's own hand.

There is not a civilian in all Europe, nay even the vilest slave, but
must feel the whole horror of this barbarous injustice. The first crime
of this unfortunate man was, the having made an humble representation of
the rights and privileges of his country, at the head of six Livonian
gentlemen, who were sent as deputies from the whole province: having
been condemned to die for fulfilling the first of duties, that of
serving his country agreeable to her laws. This iniquitous sentence put
him in full possession of a right, which all mankind derive from nature,
that of choosing his country. Being afterwards made ambassador to one of
the greatest monarchs in the universe, his person thereby became sacred.
On this occasion the law of force violated that of nature and nations.
In former ages cruelties of this kind were hidden in the blaze of
success, but now they sully the glory of a conqueror.




CHAP. XVI.

    Attempts made to set up a third king of Poland.--Charles XII. sets
    out from Saxony with a powerful army, and marches through Poland in
    a victorious manner.--Cruelties committed.--Conduct of the
    czar.--Successes of the king of Sweden, who at length advances
    towards Russia.


[Sidenote: 1707.]

Charles XII. enjoyed the fruits of his good fortune in Altranstadt near
Leipsic, whither the Protestant princes of the German empire repaired in
droves to pay homage to him, and implore his protection. He received
ambassadors from almost all the potentates in Europe. The emperor Joseph
implicitly followed his directions. Peter then perceiving that king
Augustus had renounced his protection and his own crown, and that a part
of the Polish nation had acknowledged Stanislaus, listened to the
proposals made him by Yolkova, of choosing a third king.

A diet was held at Lublin, in which several of the palatines were
proposed; and among others, Prince Ragotski was put upon the list; that
prince, who was so long kept in prison, when young, by the emperor
Leopold, and who afterwards when he procured his liberty, was his
competitor for the throne of Hungary.

This negotiation was pushed very far, and Poland was on the point of
having three kings at one time. Prince Ragotski not succeeding, Peter
thought to bestow the crown on Siniauski, grand general of the republic;
a person of great power and interest, and head of a third party, that
would neither acknowledge the dethroned king, nor the person elected by
the opposed party.

In the midst of these troubles, there was a talk of peace, as is
customary on the like occasions. Besseval the French envoy in Saxony
interposed, in order to bring about a reconciliation between the czar
and the king of Sweden. It was thought at that time by the court of
France, that Charles, having no longer either the Russians or Poles to
fight against, might turn his arms against the emperor Joseph, with whom
he was not on very good terms, and on whom he had imposed several laws
during his stay in Saxony. But Charles made answer, that he would treat
with the czar in Moscow. It was on this occasion that Peter said, 'My
brother Charles wants to act the Alexander, but he shall not find a
Darius in me.'

The Russians however were still in Poland, and were in the city of
Warsaw, while the king whom Charles XII. had set over the Poles was
hardly acknowledged by that nation. In the mean time, Charles was
enriching his army with the spoils of Saxony.

Aug. 22.] At length he began his march from Altranstadt, at the head of
an army of forty-five thousand men; a force which it seemed impossible
for the czar to withstand, seeing he had been entirely defeated by eight
thousand only at Narva.

Aug. 27.] It was in passing by the walls of Dresden, that Charles made
that very extraordinary visit to king Augustus, which, as Norberg says,
'will strike posterity with admiration.' It was running an unaccountable
risk, to put himself in the power of a prince whom he had deprived of
his kingdom. From thence he continued his march through Silesia, and
re-entered Poland.

This country has been entirely ravaged by war, ruined by factions, and
was a prey to every kind of calamity. Charles continued advancing with
his army through the province of Muscovia, and chose the most difficult
ways he could take. The inhabitants, who had taken shelter in the
morasses, resolved to make him at least pay for his passage. Six
thousand peasants dispatched an old man of their body to speak to him:
this man who was of a very extraordinary figure, clad in white, and
armed with two carabines, made a speech to Charles; but as the standers
by did not well understand what he said, they, without any further
ceremony, dispatched him in his harangue, and before their king's face.
The peasants, in a rage, immediately withdrew, and took up arms. All who
could be found were seized, and obliged to hang one another; the last
was compelled to put the rope about his neck himself, and to be his own
executioner. All their houses were burnt to the ground. This fact is
attested by Norberg, who was an eye-witness, and therefore cannot be
contradicted, as it cannot be related without inspiring horror.

1708, Feb. 6.] Charles being arrived within a few leagues of Grodno in
Lithuania, is informed of the czar's being there in person with a body
of troops; upon which, without staying to deliberate, he takes only
eight hundred of his guards, and sets out for Grodno. A German officer,
named Mulfels, who commanded a body of troops, posted at one of the
gates of the town, making no doubt, when he saw Charles, but that he was
followed by his whole army, instead of disputing the passage with him,
leaves it open, and takes to flight. The alarm is now spread through the
whole town; every one imagines the whole Swedish army already entered;
the few Russians who made any resistance, are cut in pieces by the
Swedish guards; and all the officers assure the czar, that the
victorious army had made itself master of the place. Hereupon Peter
retreats behind the ramparts, and Charles plants a guard of thirty men
at the very gate through which the czar had just before entered.

In this confusion some of the Jesuits, whose college had been taken to
accommodate the king of Sweden, as being the handsomest structure in the
place, went by night to the czar, and for this time told the whole
truth. Upon this, Peter immediately returns into the town, and forces
the Swedish guards. An engagement ensues in the streets and public
places; but, at length, the whole Swedish army appearing in sight, the
czar is obliged to yield to superior numbers, and leaves the town in the
hands of the victor, who made all Poland tremble.

Charles had augmented his forces in Livonia and Finland, and Peter had
every thing to fear, not only for his conquests on this side, together
with those in Lithuania, but also for his ancient territories, and even
for the city of Moscow itself. He was obliged then to provide at once
for the safety of all these different places, at such a distance from
each other. Charles could not make any rapid conquest to the eastward of
Lithuania in the depth of winter, and in a marshy country, subject to
epidemical disorders, which had been spread by poverty and famine, from
Warsaw, as far as Minski. Peter posted his troops so as to command the
passes of the rivers, (April 8.) guarded all the important posts, and
did every thing in his power to impede the marches of his enemy, and
afterwards hastened to put things in a proper situation at Petersburg.

Though Charles was lording it in Poland, he took nothing from the czar;
but Peter, by the use he made of his new fleet, by landing his troops in
Finland, by the taking and dismantling the town of Borgau, (May 22.) and
by seizing a great booty, was procuring many real and great advantages
to himself, and distressing his enemy.

Charles, after being detained a long time in Lithuania, by continual
rains, at length reached the little river of Berezine, some few leagues
from the Boristhenes. Nothing could withstand his activity: he threw a
bridge over the river in sight of the Russians; beat a detachment that
guarded the passage, and got to Holozin on the river Bibitsch, where the
czar had posted a considerable body of troops to check the impetuous
progress of his rival. The little river of Bibitsch is only a small
brook in dry weather; but at this time it was swelled by the rains to a
deep and rapid stream. On the other side was a morass, behind which the
Russians had thrown up an intrenchment for above a quarter of a league,
defended by a large and deep ditch, and covered by a parapet, lined with
artillery. Nine regiments of horse, and eleven of foot, were
advantageously posted in these lines, so that the passage of the river
seemed impracticable.

The Swedes, according to the custom of war, got ready their pontoons,
and erected batteries to favour their passage; but Charles, whose
impatience to engage would not let him brook the least delay, did not
wait till the pontoons were ready. Marshal Schwerin, who served a long
time under him, has assured me several times, that one day that they
were to come to action, observing his generals to be very busy in
concerting the necessary dispositions, said tartly to them, 'When will
you have done with this trifling?' and immediately advanced in person at
the head of his guards, which he did particularly on this memorable day.

He flung himself into the river, followed by his regiment of guards.
Their numbers broke the impetuosity of the current, but the water was as
high as their shoulders, and they could make no use of their firelocks.
Had the artillery of the parapet been but tolerably well served, or had
the infantry but levelled their pieces in a proper manner, not a single
Swede would have escaped.

July 25.] The king, after wading the river, passed the morass on foot.
As soon as the army had surmounted these obstacles within sight of the
Russians, they drew up in order of battle, and attacked the enemies
intrenchments seven different times, and it was not till the seventh
attack that the Russians gave way. By the accounts of their own
historians, the Swedes took but twelve field-pieces, and twenty-four
mortars.

It was therefore evident, that the czar had at length succeeded in
disciplining his troops, and this victory of Holozin, while it covered
Charles XII. with glory, might have made him sensible of the many
dangers he must have to encounter in adventuring into such distant
countries, where his army could march only in small bodies, through
woods, morasses, and where he would be obliged to fight out every step
of his way; but the Swedes, being accustomed to carry all before them,
dreaded neither danger nor fatigue.[74]




CHAP. XVII.

    Charles XII. crosses the Boristhenes, penetrates into the Ukraine,
    but concerts his measures badly.--One of his armies is defeated by
    Peter the Great: he loses his supply of provisions and ammunition:
    advances forward through a desert country: his adventures in the
    Ukraine.


[Sidenote: 1708.]

At last Charles arrives on the borders of the Boristhenes, at a small
town called Mohilow. This was the important spot where it was to be
determined, whether he should direct his march eastward, towards Moscow;
or southwards, towards the Ukraine. His own army, his friends, his
enemies, all expected that he would direct his course immediately for
the capital of Russia. Which ever way he took, Peter was following him
from Smolensko with a strong army; no one expected that he would turn
towards the Ukraine. He was induced to take this strange resolution by
Mazeppa, hetman of the Cossacks, who, being an old man of seventy and
without children, ought to have thought only of ending his days in
peace: gratitude should have bound him to the czar, to whom he was
indebted for his present dignity; but whether he had any real cause of
complaint against that prince, or that he was dazzled with the lustre of
Charles's exploits, or whether, in time, he thought to make himself
independent, he betrayed his benefactor, and privately espoused the
interests of the king of Sweden, flattering himself with the hopes of
engaging his whole nation in a rebellion with himself.

Charles made not the least doubt of subduing the Russian empire, as soon
as his troops should be joined by so warlike a people as the Cossacks.
Mazeppa was to furnish him with what provisions, ammunition, and
artillery, he should want; besides these powerful succours, he was to be
joined by an army of sixteen or seventeen thousand men, out of Livonia,
under the command of general Levenhaupt, who was to bring with him a
prodigious quantity of warlike stores and provisions. Charles was not at
the trouble of reflecting, whether the czar was within reach of
attacking the army, and depriving him of these necessary supplies. He
never informed himself whether Mazeppa was in a condition to observe his
promises; if that Cossack had credit enough to change the disposition of
a whole nation, who are generally guided only by their own opinion; or
whether his army was provided with sufficient resources in case of an
accident; but imagined, if Mazeppa should prove deficient in abilities
or fidelity, he could trust in his own valour and good fortune. The
Swedish army then advanced beyond the Boristhenes towards the Desna; it
was between these two rivers, that he expected to meet with Mazeppa. His
march was attended with many difficulties and dangers, on account of the
badness of the road, and the many parties of Russians that were hovering
about these regions.

Sept. 11.] Menzikoff, at the head of some horse and foot, attacked the
king's advanced guard, threw them into disorder, and killed a number of
his men. He lost a great number of his own, indeed, but that did not
discourage him. Charles immediately hastened to the field of battle, and
with some difficulty repulsed the Russians, at the hazard of his own
life, by engaging a party of dragoons, by whom he was surrounded. All
this while Mazeppa did not appear, and provisions began to grow scarce.
The Swedish soldiers, seeing their king share in all their dangers,
fatigues, and wants, were not dispirited; but though they admired his
courage, they could not refrain from murmuring at his conduct.

The orders which the king had sent to Levenhaupt to march forward with
all haste, to join him with the necessary supplies, were not delivered
by twelve days so soon as they should have been. This was a long delay
as circumstances then stood. However, Levenhaupt at length began his
march; Peter suffered him to pass the Boristhenes, but as soon as his
army was got between that river and the lesser ones, which empty
themselves into it, he crossed over after him, and attacked him with his
united forces, which had followed in different corps at equal distances
from one another. This battle was fought between the Boristhenes and the
Sossa.[75]

Prince Menzikoff was upon his return with the same body of horse, with
which he had lately engaged Charles XII. General Baur followed him, and
the czar himself headed the flower of his army. The Swedes imagined they
had to deal with an army of forty thousand men, and the same was
believed for a long time on the faith of their relation; but my late
memoirs inform me, that Peter had only twenty thousand men in this day's
engagement, a number not much superior to that of the enemy: but his
vigour, his patience, his unwearied perseverance, together with that of
his troops, animated by his presence, decided the fate, not of that day
only, but of three successive days, during which the fight was renewed
at different times.

They made their first attack upon the rear of the Swedish army, near the
village of Lesnau, from whence this battle borrows its name. This first
shock was bloody, without proving decisive. Levenhaupt retreated into a
wood, and thereby saved his baggage. (Oct. 7.) The next morning, when
the Swedes were to be driven from this wood, the fight was still more
bloody, and more to the advantage of the Russians. Here it was that the
czar, seeing his troops in disorder, cried out to fire upon the
runaways, and even upon himself, if they saw him turn back. The Swedes
were repulsed, but not thrown into confusion.

At length a reinforcement of four thousand dragoons arriving, he fell
upon the Swedes a third time; who retreated to a small town called
Prospock, where they were again attacked; they then marched towards the
Desna, the Russians still pursuing them: yet they were never broken,
but lost upwards of eight thousand men, seventeen pieces of cannon, and
forty-four colours: the czar took fifty-six officers and near nine
hundred private men prisoners; and the great convoy of provisions and
ammunition that were going to Charles's army, fell into the hands of the
conqueror.

This was the first time that the czar in person gained a pitched battle,
against an enemy who had distinguished himself by so many victories over
his troops: he was employed in a general thanksgiving for his success,
when he received advice that general Apraxin had lately gained an
advantage over the enemy in Ingria, (Sept. 17,) some leagues from Narva,
an advantage less considerable indeed than that of Lesnau; but this
concurrence of fortunate events greatly raised the hopes and courage of
his troops.

Charles XII. heard of these unfortunate tidings just as he was ready to
pass the Desna, in the Ukraine. Mazeppa at length joined him; but
instead of twenty thousand men, and an immense quantity of provisions,
which he was to have brought with him, he came with only two regiments,
and appeared rather like a fugitive applying for assistance, than a
prince, who was bringing powerful succours to his ally. This Cossack had
indeed begun his march with near fifteen or sixteen thousand of his
people, whom he had told, at their first setting out, that they were
going against the king of Sweden; that they would have the glory of
stopping that hero on his march, and that he would hold himself
eternally obliged to them for so great a service.

But when they came within a few leagues of the Desna, he made them
acquainted with his real design. These brave people received his
declaration with disdain: they refused to betray a monarch, against
whom they had no cause of complaint, for the sake of a Swede, who had
invaded their country with an armed force, and who, after leaving it,
would be no longer able to defend them, but must abandon them to the
mercy of the incensed Russians, and of the Poles, once their masters,
and always their enemies: they accordingly returned home, and gave
advice to the czar of the defection of their chief: Mazeppa found
himself left with only two regiments, the officers of which were in his
own pay.

He was still master of some strong posts in the Ukraine, and in
particular of Bathurin, the place of his residence, looked upon as the
capital of the country of the Cossacks: it is situated near some forests
on the Desna, at a great distance from the place where Peter had
defeated general Levenhaupt. There were always some Russian regiments
quartered in these districts. Prince Menzikoff was detached from the
czar's army, and got thither by round-about marches. Charles could not
secure all the passes; he did not even know them all, and had neglected
to make himself master of the important post of Starowdoub, which leads
directly to the Bathurin, across seven or eight leagues of forest,
through which the Desna directs its course. His enemy had always the
advantage of him, by being better acquainted with the country.

Menzikoff and prince Galitzin, who had accompanied him, easily made
their passage good, and presented themselves before the town of
Bathurin, (Nov. 14,) which surrendered almost without resistance, was
plundered, and reduced to ashes. The Russians made themselves masters of
a large magazine destined for the use of the king of Sweden, and of all
Mazeppa's treasures. The Cossacks chose another hetman, named
Skoropasky, who was approved by the czar, who being willing to impress a
due sense of the enormous crime of treason on the minds of the people,
by a striking example of justice, the archbishop of Kiow, and two other
prelates, were ordered to excommunicate Mazeppa publicly, (Nov. 22,)
after which he was hanged in effigy, and some of his accomplices were
broken upon the wheel.

In the meanwhile, Charles XII. still at the head of about twenty-five or
twenty-seven thousand Swedes, who were reinforced by the remains of
Levenhaupt's army, and the addition of between two or three thousand
men, whom Mazeppa had brought with him, and still infatuated with the
same notion of making all the Ukraine declare for him, passed the Desna
at some distance from Bathurin, and near the Boristhenes, in spite of
the czar's troops which surrounded him on all sides; part of whom
followed close in the rear, while another part lined the opposite side
of the river to oppose his passage.

He continued his march through a desert country, where he met with
nothing but burned or ruined villages. The cold began to set in at the
beginning of December so extremely sharp, that in one of his marches
near two thousand of his men perished before his eyes: the czar's troops
did not suffer near so much, being better supplied; whereas the king of
Sweden's army, being almost naked, was necessarily more exposed to the
inclemency of the weather.

In this deplorable situation, count Piper, chancellor of Sweden, who
never gave his master other than good advice, conjured him to halt, and
pass at least the severest part of the winter in a small town of the
Ukraine, called Romna, where he might intrench himself, and get some
provisions by the help of Mazeppa; but Charles replied, that--He was not
a person to shut himself up in a town. Piper then intreated him to
re-pass the Desna and the Boristhenes, to return back into Poland, to
put his troops into winter quarters, of which they stood so much in
need, to make use of the Polish cavalry, which was absolutely necessary;
to support the king he had nominated, and to keep in awe the partisans
of Augustus, who began already to bestir themselves. Charles answered
him again--That this would be flying before the czar, that the season
would grow milder, and that he must reduce the Ukraine, and march on to
Moscow.[76]

January, 1709.] Both armies remained some weeks inactive, on account of
the intenseness of the cold, in the month of January, 1709; but as soon
as the men were able to make use of their arms, Charles attacked all the
small posts that he found in his way; he was obliged to send parties on
every side in search of provisions; that is to say, to scour the country
twenty leagues round, and rob all the peasants of their necessary
subsistence. Peter, without hurrying himself, kept a strict eye upon all
his motions, and suffered the Swedish army to dwindle away by degrees.

It is impossible for the reader to follow the Swedes in their march
through these countries: several of the rivers which they crossed are
not to be found in the maps: we must not suppose, that geographers are
as well acquainted with these countries, as we are with Italy, France,
and Germany: geography is, of all the arts, that which still stands the
most need of improvement, and ambition has hitherto been at more pains
to desolate the face of the globe, than to give a description of it.

We must content ourselves then with knowing, that Charles traversed the
whole Ukraine in the month of February, burning the villages wherever he
came, or meeting with others that had been laid in ashes by the
Russians. He advancing south-east, came to those sandy deserts, bordered
by mountains that separate the Nogay Tartars from the Don Cossacks. To
the eastward of those mountains are the altars of Alexander. Charles was
now on the other side of the Ukraine, in the road that the Tartars take
to Russia; and when he was got there, he was obliged to return back
again to procure subsistence: the inhabitants, having retired with all
their cattle into their dens and lurking-places, would sometimes defend
their subsistence against the soldiers, who came to deprive them of it.
Such of these poor wretches, who could be found, were put to death,
agreeably to what are falsely called, the rules of war. I cannot here
forbear transcribing a few lines from Norberg.[77] 'As an instance,'
says he, 'of the king's regard to justice, I shall insert a note, which
he wrote with his own hand to colonel Heilmen.

    'Colonel,

    'I am very well pleased that you have taken those peasants, who
    carried off a Swedish soldier; as soon as they are convicted of the
    crime, let them be punished with death, according to the exigency of
    the case.

                   'Charles; and lower down, Budis.'

Such are the sentiments of justice and humanity shewn by a king's
confessor; but, had the peasants of the Ukraine had it in their power
to hang up some of those regimented peasants of East Gothland, who
thought themselves entitled to come so far to plunder them, their wives,
and families, of their subsistence, would not the confessors and
chaplains of these Ukrainers have had equal reason to applaud their
justice?

Mazeppa had for a considerable time, been in treaty with the
Zaporavians, who dwell about the two shores of the Boristhenes, and of
whom part inhabit the islands on that river. It is this division that
forms the nation, of whom mention has already been made in the first
chapter of this history, and who have neither wives nor families, and
subsist entirely by rapine. During the winter they heap up provisions in
their islands, which they afterwards go and sell in the summer, in the
little town of Pultowa; the rest dwell in small hamlets, to the right
and left of this river. All together choose a particular hetman, and
this hetman is subordinate to him of the Ukraine. The person, at that
time at the head of the Zaporavians, came to meet Mazeppa; and these two
barbarians had an interview, at which each of them had a horse's tail,
and a club borne before him, as ensigns of honour.

To shew what this hetman of the Zaporavians and his people were, I think
it not unworthy of history, to relate the manner in which this treaty
was concluded. Mazeppa gave a great feast to the hetman of the
Zaporavians, and his principal officers, who were all served in plate.
As soon as these chiefs had made themselves drunk with brandy, they took
an oath (without stirring from table) upon the Evangelists, to supply
Charles with men and provisions; after which they carried off all the
plate and other table-furniture. Mazeppa's steward ran after them, and
remonstrated, that such behaviour ill-suited with the doctrine of the
Gospels, on which they had so lately sworn. Some of Mazeppa's domestics
were for taking the plate away from them by force; but the Zaporavians
went in a body to complain to Mazeppa, of the unparalleled affront
offered to such brave fellows, and demanded to have the steward
delivered up to them, that they might punish him according to law. This
was accordingly complied with, and the Zaporavians, according to law,
tossed this poor man from one to another like a ball, and afterwards
plunged a knife to his heart.

Such were the new allies that Charles XII. was obliged to receive; part
of whom he formed into a regiment of two thousand men; the remainder
marched in separate bodies against the Cossacks and Calmucks of the
czar's party, that were stationed about that district.

The little town of Pultowa, with which those Zaporavians carry on a
trade, was filled with provisions, and might have served Charles for a
place of arms. It is situated on the river Worsklaw, near a chain of
mountains, which command it on the north side. To the eastward is a vast
desert. The western part is the most fruitful, and the best peopled. The
Worsklaw empties itself into the Boristhenes, about fifteen leagues
lower down; from Pultowa, one may go northward, through the defiles,
which communicate with the road to Moscow, a passage used by the
Tartars. It is very difficult of access, and the precautions taken by
the czar had rendered it almost impervious; but nothing appeared
impossible to Charles, and he depended upon marching to Moscow, as soon
as he had made himself master of Pultowa: with this view he laid siege
to that town in the beginning of May.




CHAP. XVIII.

    Battle of Pultowa.


Here it was that Peter expected him; he had disposed the several
divisions of his army at convenient distances for joining each other,
and marching all together against the besiegers: he had visited the
countries which surround the Ukraine; namely the duchy of Severia,
watered by the Desna, already made famous by his victory: the country of
Bolcho, in which the Occa has its source; the deserts and mountains
leading to the Palus Mæotis; and lately he had been in the neighbourhood
of Azoph, where he caused that harbour to be cleansed, new ships to be
built, and the citadel of Taganroc to be repaired. Thus did he employ
the time that passed between the battles of Lesnau and Pultowa, in
preparing for the defence of his dominions. As soon as he heard the
Swedes had laid siege to the town, he mustered all his forces; the
horse, dragoons, infantry, Cossacks, and Calmucks, advanced from
different quarters. His army was well provided with necessaries of every
kind; large cannon, field pieces, ammunition of all sorts, provisions,
and even medicines for the sick: this was another degree of superiority
which he had acquired over his rival.

On the 15th day of June, 1709, he appeared before Pultowa, with an army
of about sixty thousand effective men; the river Worsklaw was between
him and Charles. The besiegers were encamped on the north-west side of
that river, the Russians on the south-east.

Peter ascends the river above the town, fixes his barges, marches over
with his army, and draws a long line of intrenchments, (July 3.) which
were begun and completed in one night, in the face of the enemy. Charles
might then judge, whether the person, whom he had so much despised, and
whom he thought of dethroning at Moscow, understood the art of war. This
disposition being made, Peter posted his cavalry between two woods, and
covered it with several redoubts, lined with artillery. Having thus
taken all the necessary measures, (July 6.) he went to reconnoitre the
enemy's camp, in order to form the attack.

This battle was to decide the fate of Russia, Poland, and Sweden, and of
two monarchs, on whom the eyes of all Europe were fixed. The greatest
part of those nations, who were attentive to these important concerns,
were equally ignorant of the place where these two princes were, and of
their situation: but knowing that Charles XII. had set out from Saxony,
at the head of a victorious army, and that he was driving his enemy
every where before him, they no longer doubted that he would at length
entirely crush him; and that, as he had already given laws to Denmark,
Poland, and Germany, he would now dictate conditions of peace in the
Kremlin of Moscow, and make a new czar, after having already made a new
king of Poland. I have seen letters from several public ministers to
their respective courts, confirming this general opinion.

The risk was far from being equal between these two great rivals. If
Charles lost a life, which he had so often and wantonly exposed, there
would after all have been but one hero less in the world. The provinces
of the Ukraine, the frontiers of Lithuania, and of Russia, would then
rest from their calamities, and a stop would be put to the general
devastation which had so long been their scourge. Poland would,
together with her tranquillity, recover her lawful prince, who had been
lately reconciled to the czar, his benefactor; and Sweden, though
exhausted of men and money, might find motives of consolation under her
heavy losses.

But, if the czar perished, those immense labours, which had been of such
utility to mankind, would be buried with him, and the most extensive
empire in the world would again relapse into the chaos from whence it
had been so lately taken.

There had already been some skirmishes between the detached parties of
the Swedes and Russians, under the walls of the town. In one of these
rencounters, (June 27.) Charles had been wounded by a musket-ball, which
had shattered the bones of his foot: he underwent several painful
operations, which he bore with his usual fortitude, and had been
confined to his bed for several days. In this condition he was informed,
that Peter intended to give him battle; his notions of honour would not
suffer him to wait to be attacked in his intrenchments. Accordingly he
gave orders for quitting them, and was carried himself in a litter.
Peter the Great acknowledges, that the Swedes attacked the redoubts,
lined with artillery, that covered his cavalry, with such obstinate
valour, that, notwithstanding the strongest resistance, supported by a
continual fire, the enemy made themselves masters of two redoubts. Some
writers say, that when the Swedish infantry found themselves in
possession of the two redoubts, they thought the day their own, and
began to cry out--Victory. The chaplain, Norberg, who was at some great
distance from the field of battle, amongst the baggage (which was indeed
his proper place) pretends, that this was a calumny; but, whether the
Swedes cried victory or not, it is certain they were not victorious. The
fire from the other redoubts was kept up without ceasing, and the
resistance made by the Russians, in every part, was as firm as the
attack of their enemies was vigorous. They did not make one irregular
movement; the czar drew up his army without the intrenchments in
excellent order, and with surprising dispatch.

The battle now became general. Peter acted as major-general; Baur
commanded the right wing, Menzikoff the left, and Sheremeto the centre.
The action lasted about two hours: Charles, with a pistol in his hand,
went from rank to rank, carried in a litter, on the shoulders of his
drabans; one of which was killed by a cannon-ball, and at the same time
the litter was shattered in pieces. He then ordered his men to carry him
upon their pikes; for it would have been difficult, in so smart an
action, let Norberg say as he pleases, to find a fresh litter ready
made. Peter received several shots through his clothes and his hat; both
princes were continually in the midst of the fire, during the whole
action. At length, after two hours desperate engagement, the Swedes were
taken on all sides, and fell into confusion; so that Charles was obliged
to fly before him, whom he had hitherto held in so much contempt. This
very hero, who could not mount his saddle during the battle, now fled
for his life on horseback; necessity lent him strength in his retreat:
he suffered the most excruciating pain, which was increased by the
mortifying reflection of being vanquished without resource. The Russians
reckoned nine thousand two hundred and twenty-four Swedes left dead on
the field of battle, and between two and three thousand made prisoners
in the action, the chief of which was cavalry.

Charles XII. fled with the greatest precipitation, attended by the
remains of his brave army, a few field-pieces, and a very small quantity
of provisions and ammunition. He directed his march southward, towards
the Boristhenes, between the two rivers Workslaw and Psol, or Sol, in
the country of the Zaporavians. Beyond the Boristhenes, are vast
deserts, which lead to the frontiers of Turkey. Norberg affirms, that
the victors durst not pursue Charles; and yet he acknowledges, that
prince Menzikoff appeared on the neighbouring heights, (July 12.) with
ten thousand horse, and a considerable train of artillery, while the
king was passing the Boristhenes.

Fourteen thousand Swedes surrendered themselves prisoners of war to
these ten thousand Russians; and Levenhaupt, who commanded them, signed
the fatal capitulation, by which he gave up those Zaporavians who had
engaged in the service of his master, and were then in the fugitive
army. The chief persons taken prisoners in the battle, and by the
capitulation, were count Piper, the first minister, with two secretaries
of state, and two of the cabinet; field-marshal Renschild, the generals
Levenhaupt, Slipenbak, Rozen, Stakelber, Creutz, and Hamilton, with
three general aides-de-camp, the auditor-general of the army,
fifty-nine staff-officers, five colonels, among whom was the prince of
Wirtemberg; sixteen thousand nine hundred and forty-two private men and
non-commissioned officers: in short, reckoning the king's own domestics,
and others, the conqueror had no less than eighteen thousand seven
hundred and forty-six prisoners in his power: to whom, if we add nine
thousand two hundred and twenty-four slain in battle, and nearly two
thousand that passed the Boristhenes with Charles, it appears, plainly,
that he had, on that memorable day, no less than twenty-seven thousand
effective men under his command.[78]

Charles had begun his march from Saxony with forty-five thousand men,
Levenhaupt had brought upwards of sixteen thousand out of Livonia, and
yet scarce a handful of men was left of all this powerful army; of a
numerous train of artillery, part lost in his marches, and part buried
in the morasses; he had now remaining only eighteen brass cannon, two
howitzers, and twelve mortars; and, with inconsiderable force, he had
undertaken the siege of Pultowa, and had attacked an army provided with
a formidable artillery. Therefore he is, with justice, accused of having
shewn more courage than prudence, after his leaving Germany. On the side
of the Russians, there were no more than fifty-two officers and one
thousand two hundred and ninety-three private men killed; an undeniable
proof, that the disposition of the Russian troops was better than those
of Charles, and that their fire was infinitely superior to that of the
Swedes.

We find, in the memoirs of a foreign minister to the court of Russia,
that Peter, being informed of Charles's design to take refuge in Turkey,
wrote a friendly letter to him, intreating him not to take so desperate
a resolution, but rather to trust himself in his hands, than in those
of the natural enemy of all Christian princes. He gave him, at the same
time, his word of honour, not to detain him prisoner, but to terminate
all their differences by a reasonable peace. This letter was sent by an
express as far as the river Bug, which separates the deserts of the
Ukraine from the grand seignior's dominions. As the messenger did not
reach that place till Charles had entered Turkey, he brought back the
letter to his master. The same minister adds further, that he had this
account from the very person who was charged with the letter.[79] This
anecdote is not altogether improbable; but I do not meet with it either
in Peter's journals, or in any of the papers entrusted to my care. What
is of greater importance, in relation to this battle, was its being the
only one, of the many that have stained the earth with blood, that,
instead of producing only destruction, has proved beneficial to mankind,
by enabling the czar to civilize so considerable a part of the world.

There have been fought more than two hundred pitched battles in Europe,
since the commencement of this century to the present year. The most
signal, and the most bloody victories, have produced no other
consequences than the reduction of a few provinces ceded afterwards by
treaties, and retaken again by other battles. Armies of a hundred
thousand men have frequently engaged each other in the field; but the
greatest efforts have been attended with only slight and momentary
successes; the most trivial causes have been productive of the greatest
effects. There is no instance, in modern history, of any war that has
compensated, by even a better good, for the many evils it has
occasioned: but, from the battle of Pultowa, the greatest empire under
the sun has derived its present happiness and prosperity.




CHAP. XIX.

    Consequences of the battle of Pultowa.--Charles XII. takes refuge
    among the Turks.--Augustus, whom he had dethroned, recovers his
    dominions.--Conquests of Peter the Great.


[Sidenote: 1709.]

The chief prisoners of rank were now presented to the conqueror, who
ordered their swords to be returned, and invited them to dinner. It is a
well known fact, that, on drinking to the officers, he said, 'To the
health of my masters in the art of war.' However, most of his masters,
particularly the subaltern officers, and all the private men, were soon
afterwards sent into Siberia. There was no cartel established here for
exchange of prisoners between the Russians and Swedes; the czar, indeed,
had proposed one before the siege of Pultowa, but Charles rejected the
offer, and his troops were in every thing the victims of his inflexible
pride.

It was this unseasonable obstinacy that occasioned all the misfortunes
of this prince in Turkey, and a series of adventures, more becoming a
hero of romance than a wise or prudent king; for, as soon as he arrived
at Bender, he was advised to write to the grand-vizier, as is the custom
among the Turks; but this he thought would be demeaning himself too far.
The like obstinacy embroiled him with all the ministers of the Porte,
one after another, in short, he knew not how to accommodate himself
either to times or circumstances.[80]

The first news of the battle of Pultowa produced a general revolution in
minds and affairs in Poland, Saxony, Sweden, and Silesia. Charles, while
all powerful in those parts, had obliged the emperor Joseph to take a
hundred and five churches from the catholics in favour of the Silesians
of the confession of Augsburg. The catholics then no sooner received
news of the defeat of Charles, than they repossessed themselves of all
the Lutheran temples. The Saxons now thought of nothing but being
revenged for the extortions of a conqueror, who had robbed them,
according to their own account, of twenty-three millions of crowns.

The king of Poland, their elector, immediately protested against the
abdication that had been extorted from him, and being now reconciled to
the czar (Aug. 3.), he left no stone unturned to reascend the Polish
throne. Sweden, overwhelmed with consternation, thought her king for a
long time dead, and in this uncertainty the senate knew not what to
resolve.

Peter in the mean time determined to make the best use of his victory,
and therefore dispatched marshal Sheremeto with an army into Livonia, on
the frontiers of which province that general had so often distinguished
himself. Prince Menzikoff was sent in haste with a numerous body of
cavalry to second the few troops left in Poland, to encourage the nobles
who were in the interest of Augustus to drive out his competitor, who
was now considered in no better light than a rebel, and to disperse a
body of Swedes and troops that were still left in that kingdom under the
command of general Crassau.

The czar soon after sets out in person, marches through the province of
Kiow, and the palatinates of Chelm and Upper Volhinia, and at length
arrives at Lublin, where he concerts measures with the general of
Lithuania. He then reviews the crown troops, who all take the oath of
allegiance to king Augustus, from thence he proceeds to Warsaw, and at
Thera enjoyed the most glorious of all triumphs (Sept. 18.), that of
receiving the thanks of a king, whom he had reinstated in his dominions.
There it was that he concluded a treaty against Sweden, with the kings
of Denmark, Poland, and Prussia (Oct. 7.): in which he was resolved to
recover from Charles all the conquests of Gustavus Adolphus. Peter
revived the ancient pretensions of the czars to Livonia, Ingria,
Carelia, and part of Finland; Denmark laid claim to Scania, and the king
of Prussia to Pomerania.

Thus had Charles XII. by his unsuccessful valour, shook the noble
edifice that had been erected by the prosperous bravery of his ancestor
Gustavus Adolphus. The Polish nobility came in on all sides to renew
their oaths to their king, or to ask pardon for having deserted him; and
almost the whole kingdom acknowledged Peter for its protector.

To the victorious arms of the czar, to these new treaties, and to this
sudden revolution, Stanislaus had nothing to oppose but a voluntary
resignation: he published a writing called Universale, in which he
declares himself ready to resign the crown, if the republic required
it.

Peter, having concerted all the necessary measures with the king of
Poland, and ratified the treaty with Denmark, set out directly to finish
his negotiation with the king of Prussia. It was not then usual for
sovereign princes to perform the function of their own ambassadors.
Peter was the first who introduced this custom, which has been followed
by very few. The elector of Brandenburg, the first king of Prussia, had
a conference with the czar at Marienverder, a small town situated in the
western part of Pomerania, and built by the old Teutonic knights, and
included in the limits of Prussia, lately erected into a kingdom. This
country indeed was poor, and of a small extent; but its new king,
whenever he travelled, displayed the utmost magnificence; with great
splendour he had received czar Peter at his first passing through his
dominions, when that prince quitted his empire to go in search of
instruction among strangers. But he received the conqueror of Charles
XII. in a still more pompous manner. (Oct. 20.) Peter for this time
concluded only a defensive treaty with him, which afterwards, however,
completed the ruin of Sweden.

Not an instant of time was lost. Peter, having proceeded with the
greatest dispatch in his negotiations, which elsewhere are wont to take
up so much time, goes and joins his army, then before Riga, the capital
of Livonia; he began by bombarding the place (Nov. 21.), and fired off
the three first bombs himself; then changed the siege into a blockade;
and, when well assured that Riga could not escape him, he repaired to
his city of Petersburg, to inspect and forward the works carrying on
there, the new buildings, and finishing of his fleet; and having laid
the keel of a ship of fifty-four guns, (Dec. 3.) with his own hands, he
returned to Moscow. Here he amused himself with assisting in the
preparations for the triumphal entry, which he exhibited in the capital.
He directed every thing relating to that festival, and was himself the
principal contriver and architect.

He opened the year 1710 with this solemnity, so necessary to his
subjects, whom it inspired with notions of grandeur, and was highly
pleasing to every one who had been fearful of seeing those enter their
walls as conquerors, over whom they now triumphed. Seven magnificent
arches were erected, under which passed in triumph, the artillery,
standards, and colours, taken from the enemy, with their officers,
generals, and ministers, who had been taken prisoners, all on foot,
amidst the ringing of bells, the sound of trumpets, the discharge of a
hundred pieces of cannon, and the acclamations of an innumerable
concourse of people, whose voices rent the air as soon as the cannon
ceased firing. The procession was closed by the victorious army, with
the generals at its head; and Peter, who marched in his rank of
major-general. At each triumphal arch stood the deputies of the several
orders of the state; and at the last was a chosen band of young
gentlemen, the sons of boyards, clad in Roman habits, who presented a
crown of laurels to their victorious monarch.

This public festival was followed by another ceremony, which proved no
less satisfactory than the former. In the year 1708 happened an accident
the more disagreeable to Peter, as his arms were at that time
unsuccessful. Mattheof, his ambassador to the court of London, having
had his audience of leave of queen Anne, was arrested for debt, at the
suit of some English merchants, and carried before a justice of peace to
give security for the monies he owed there. The merchants insisted that
the laws of commerce ought to prevail before the privileges of foreign
ministers; the czar's ambassador, and with him all the public ministers,
protested against this proceeding, alleging, that their persons ought to
be always inviolable. The czar wrote to queen Anne, demanding
satisfaction for the insult offered him in the person of his ambassador.

But the queen had it not in her power to gratify him; because, by the
laws of England, tradesmen were allowed to prosecute their debtors,
and there was no law that excepted public ministers from such
prosecution.[81] The murder of Patkul, the czar's ambassador, who had
been executed the year before by the order of Charles XII. had
encouraged the English to shew so little regard to a character which had
been so cruelly profaned. The other public ministers who were then at
the court of London, were obliged to be bound for the czar's ambassador;
and at length all the queen could do in his favour, was to prevail on
her parliament to pass an act, by which no one for the future could
arrest an ambassador for debt; but after the battle of Pultowa, the
English court thought proper to give satisfaction to the czar.

The queen made by a formal embassy an excuse for what had passed. Mr.
Whitworth,[82] the person charged with this commission, began his
harangue with the following words.--(Feb. 16.) 'Most high and mighty
emperor.' He told the czar that the person who had presumed to arrest
his ambassador, had been imprisoned and rendered infamous. There was no
truth in all this, but it was sufficient that he said so, and the title
of emperor, which the queen had not given Peter before the battle of
Pultowa, shewed the consideration he had now acquired in Europe.

This title had been already granted him in Holland, not only by those
who had been his fellow-workmen in the dock-yards at Saardam, and seemed
to interest themselves most in his glory, but likewise by the principal
persons in the state, who unanimously styled him emperor, and made
public rejoicings for his victory, even in the presence of the Swedish
minister.

The universal reputation which he had acquired by his victory of
Pultowa, was still further increased by his not suffering a moment to
pass without making some advantages of it. In the first place, he laid
siege to Elbing, a Hans town of Regal Prussia in Poland, where the
Swedes had still a garrison. The Russians scaled the walls, entered the
town, and the garrison surrendered prisoners of war. (Mar. 11.) This was
one of the largest magazines belonging to Charles XII. The conquerors
found therein one hundred and eighty-three brass cannon, and one hundred
and fifty-seven mortars. Immediately after the reduction of Elbing,
Peter re-marched from Moscow to Petersburg (April 2.); as soon as he
arrived at this latter place, he took shipping under his new fortress of
Cronslot, coasted along the shore of Carelia, and notwithstanding a
violent storm, brought his fleet safely before Wiburg, the capital of
Carelia in Finland; while his land-forces advanced over the frozen
morasses, and in a short time the capital of Livonia beheld itself
closely blockaded (June 23.): and after a breach was made in the walls,
Wiburg surrendered, and the garrison, consisting of four thousand men,
capitulated, but did not receive the honours of war, being made
prisoners notwithstanding the capitulation. Peter charged the enemy with
several infractions of this kind, and promised to set these troops at
liberty, as soon as he should receive satisfaction from the Swedes, for
his complaints. On this occasion the king of Sweden was to be consulted,
who continued as inflexible as ever; and those soldiers, whom, by a
little concession, he might have delivered from their confinement,
remained in captivity. Thus did king William III. in 1695, arrest
marshal Boufflers, notwithstanding the capitulation of Namur. There have
been several instances of such violations of treaties, but it is to be
wished there never had been any.

After the taking of this capital, the blockade of Riga was soon changed
into a regular siege, and pushed with vigour. They were obliged to break
the ice on the river Dwina, which waters the walls of the city. An
epidemical disorder, which had raged some time in those parts, now got
amongst the besiegers, and carried off nine thousand; nevertheless, the
siege was not in the least slackened; it lasted a considerable time, but
at length the garrison capitulated (July 15.): and were allowed the
honours of war; but it was stipulated by the capitulation, that all the
Livonian officers and soldiers should enter into the Russian service, as
natives of a country that had been dismembered from that empire, and
usurped by the ancestors of Charles XII. But the Livonians were restored
to the privileges of which his father had stripped them, and all the
officers entered into the czar's service: this was the most noble
satisfaction that Peter could take for the murder of his ambassador,
Patkul, a Livonian, who had been put to death, for defending those
privileges. The garrison consisted of near five thousand men. A short
time afterwards the citadel of Pennamund was taken, and the besiegers
found in the town and fort above eight hundred pieces of artillery of
different kinds.

Nothing was now wanting, to make Peter entirely master of the province
of Carelia, but the possession of the strong town of Kexholm, built on
an island in the lake of Ladoga, and deemed impregnable; it was
bombarded soon after, and surrendered in a short time. (Sep. 19.) The
island of Oesel in the sea, bordering upon the north of Livonia, was
subdued with the same rapidity. (Sep. 23.)

On the side of Esthonia, a province of Livonia, towards the north, and
on the gulf of Finland, are the towns of Pernau and Revel: by the
reduction of these Peter completed the conquest of all Livonia. Pernau
surrendered after a siege of a few days (Aug. 25.), and Revel
capitulated (Sep. 10.) without waiting to have a single cannon fired
against it; but the besieged found means to escape out of the hands of
the conquerors, at the very time that they were surrendering themselves
prisoners of war: for some Swedish ships, having anchored in the road,
under favour of the night, the garrison and most of the citizens
embarked on board, and when the besiegers entered the town, they were
surprised to find it deserted. When Charles XII. gained the victory of
Narva little did he expect that his troops would one day be driven to
use such artifices.

In Poland, Stanislaus finding his party entirely ruined, had taken
refuge in Pomerania, which still belonged to Charles XII. Augustus
resumed the government, and it was difficult to decide who had acquired
most glory, Charles in dethroning him, or Peter in restoring him to his
crown.

The subjects of the king of Sweden were still more unfortunate than that
monarch himself. The contagious distemper, which had made such havock
over Livonia, passed from thence into Sweden, where, in the city of
Stockholm, it carried off thirty thousand persons: it likewise desolated
the provinces, already thinned of their inhabitants; for during the
space of ten years successively, most of the able-bodied men had quitted
their country to follow their master, and perished in foreign climes.

Charles's ill fortune pursued him also in Pomerania: his army had
retired thither from Poland, to the number of eleven thousand; the czar,
the kings of Denmark and Prussia, the elector of Hanover, and the duke
of Holstein, joined together to render this army useless, and to compel
general Crassau, who commanded it, to submit to neutrality. The regency
of Stockholm, hearing no news of their king, and distracted by the
mortality that raged in that city, were glad to sign this neutrality,
which seemed to deliver one of its provinces at least from the horrors
of war. The emperor of Germany favoured this extraordinary convention,
by which it was stipulated, that the Swedish army then in Pomerania
should not march from thence to assist their monarch in any other part
of the world; nay, it was furthermore resolved in the German empire, to
raise an army to enforce the execution of this unparalleled convention.
The reason of this was, that the emperor of Germany, who was then at war
with France, was in hopes to engage the Swedish army to enter into his
service. This whole negotiation was carried on while Peter was subduing
Livonia, Esthonia, and Carelia.

Charles XII. who was all this time at Bender, putting every spring in
motion to engage the divan to declare war against the czar, received
this news as one of the severest blows his untoward fortune had dealt
him: he could not brook, that his senate at Stockholm should pretend to
tie up the hands of his army, and it was on this occasion that he wrote
them word, he would send one of his boots to govern them.

The Danes, in the mean time, were making preparations to invade Sweden;
so that every nation in Europe was now engaged in war, Spain, Portugal,
Italy, France, Germany, Holland, and England, were contending for the
dominions left by Charles II. of Spain; and the whole North was up in
arms against Charles XII. There wanted only a quarrel with the Ottoman
empire, for every village in Europe to be exposed to the ravages of war.
This quarrel happened soon afterwards, when Peter had attained to the
summit of his glory, and precisely for that reason.




CHAP. XX.

    Campaign of Pruth.


Sultan Achmet III. declared war against Peter I. not from any regard to
the king of Sweden, but, as may readily be supposed, merely from a view
to his own interest. The Khan of the Crim Tartars could not without
dread, behold a neighbour so powerful as Peter I. The Porte had, for
some time, taken umbrage at the number of ships which this prince had on
the Palus Mæotis, and in the Black Sea, at his fortifying the city of
Azoph, and at the flourishing state of the harbour of Taganroc, already
become famous; and, lastly, at his great series of successes, and at the
ambition which success never fails to augment.

It is neither true, nor even probable, that the Porte should have begun
the war against the czar, on the Palus Mæotis, for no other reason than
because a Swedish ship had taken a bark on the Baltic, on board of which
was found a letter from a minister, whose name has never been mentioned.
Norberg tells us, that this letter contained a plan for the conquest of
the Turkish empire; that it was carried to Charles XII. who was then in
Turkey, and was by him sent to the divan; and that immediately after the
receipt of this letter, war was declared. But this story carries the
mark of fiction with it. It was the remonstrances of the khan of
Tartary, who was more uneasy about the neighbourhood of Azoph, than the
Turkish divan, that induced this latter to give orders for taking the
field.[83]

It was in the month of August, and before the czar had completed the
reduction of Livonia, when Achmet III. resolved to declare war against
him. The Turks, at that time, could hardly have had the news of the
taking of Riga; and, therefore, the proposal of restoring to the king of
Sweden the value in money, of the effects he had lost at the battle of
Pultowa, would have been the most absurd thing imaginable, if not
exceeded by that of demolishing Petersburg. The behaviour of Charles
XII. at Bender, was sufficiently romantic; but the conduct of the
Turkish divan would have been much more so, if we suppose it to have
made any demands of this kind.

Nov. 1710.] The khan of Tartary, who was the principal instigator of
this war, paid Charles a visit in his retreat at Bender. They were
connected by the same interests, inasmuch as Europe makes part of the
frontiers of Little Tartary. Charles and the khan were the two greatest
sufferers by the successes of the czar; but the khan did not command the
forces of the grand seignior. He was like one of the feudatory princes
of Germany, who served in the armies of the empire with their own
troops, and were subject to the authority of the emperor's generals for
the time being.

Nov. 29, 1710.] The first step taken by the divan, was to arrest
Tolstoy, the czar's ambassador at the Porte, in the streets of
Constantinople, together with thirty of his domestics, who, with their
master, were all confined in the prison of the Seven Towers. This
barbarous custom, at which even savages would blush, is owing to the
Turks having always a number of foreign ministers residing amongst them
from other courts, whereas they never send any in return. They look upon
the ambassadors of Christian princes in no other light than as merchants
or consuls; and, having naturally as great a contempt for Christians as
they have for Jews, they seldom condescend to observe the laws of
nations, in respect to them, unless forced to it; at least, they have
hitherto persisted in this barbarous pride.

The famous vizier, Achmet Couprougli, the same who took the island of
Candia, under Mahomet IV., insulted the son of the French ambassador,
and even carried his brutality so far as to strike him, and afterwards
to confine him in prison, without Lewis XIV., proud and lofty as he was,
daring to resent it, otherwise than by sending another minister to the
Porte. The Christian princes, who are so remarkably delicate on the
point of honour amongst themselves, and have even made it a part of the
law of nations, seem to be utterly insensible on this head in regard to
the Turks.

Never did a crowned head suffer greater affronts in the persons of his
ministers, than czar Peter. In the space of a few years, his
ambassador at the court of London was thrown into jail for debt, his
plenipotentiary at the courts of Poland and Saxony was broke upon the
wheel, by order of the king of Sweden; and now his minister at the
Ottoman Porte was seized and thrown into a dungeon at Constantinople,
like a common felon.[84]

We have already observed, in the first part of this history, that he
received satisfaction from queen Anne, of England, for the insult
offered to his ambassador at London. The horrible affront he suffered,
in the person of Patkul, was washed away in the blood of the Swedes
slain at the battle of Pultowa; but fortune permitted the violation of
the law of nations by the Turks to pass unpunished.

Jan. 1711.] The czar now found himself obliged to quit the theatre of
war in the west, and march towards the frontiers of Turkey. He began by
causing ten regiments, which he had in Poland, to advance towards
Moldavia.[85] He then ordered marshal Sheremeto to set out from Livonia,
with his body of forces; and, leaving prince Menzikoff at the head of
affairs at Petersburg, he returned to Moscow, to give orders for opening
the ensuing campaign.

Jan. 18.] He now establishes a senate of regency: the regiment of guards
begin their march, he issues orders for all the young nobility to follow
him to the field, to learn the art of war, and places some of them in
the station of cadets, and others in that of subaltern officers. Admiral
Apraxin goes to Azoph to take the command by sea and land. These several
measures being taken, the czar publishes an ordonnance in Moscow for
acknowledging a new empress. This was the person who had been taken
prisoner in Marienburg, in the year 1702. Peter had, in 1696, repudiated
his wife Eudoxia Lopoukin (or Lapouchin) by whom he had two children.
The laws of his church allow of no divorces; but, had they not, Peter
would have enacted a new law to permit them.

The fair captive of Marienburg, who had taken the name of Catherine, had
a soul superior to her sex and her misfortunes. She rendered herself so
agreeable to the czar, that this prince would have her always near his
person. She accompanied him in all his excursions, and most fatiguing
campaigns: sharing in his toils, and softening his uneasiness by her
natural gaiety, and the great attention she shewed to oblige him on all
occasions, and the indifference she expressed for the luxury, dress, and
other indulgences, of which the generality of her sex are, in other
countries, wont to make real necessities. She frequently softened the
passionate temper of the czar, and, by making him more clement and
merciful, rendered him more truly great. In a word, she became so
necessary to him, that he married her privately, in 1707. He had already
two daughters by her, and the following year she bore him a third, who
was afterwards married to the duke of Holstein.[86]

March 17, 1711.] The czar made this private marriage known the very day
he set out with her to try the fortune of his arms against the Turks.
The several dispositions he had made seemed to promise a successful
issue. The hetman of the Cossacks was to keep the Tartars in awe, who
had already began to commit ravages in the Ukraine. The main body of
the Russian army was advancing towards Niester, and another body of
troops, under prince Galitzin, were in full march through Poland. Every
thing went on favourably at the beginning: for Galitzin having met with
a numerous body of Tartars near Kiow, who had been joined by some
Cossacks and some Poles of king Stanislaus' party, as also a few Swedes,
he defeated them entirely, and killed near five thousand men. These
Tartars had, in their march through the open country, made about ten
thousand prisoners. It has been the custom of the Tartars, time
immemorial, to carry with them a much greater number of cords than
scimitars, in order to bind the unhappy wretches they surprise. The
captives were all set free, and those who had made them prisoners were
put to the sword. The whole Russian army, if it had been assembled
together, would have amounted to sixty thousand men. It was to have been
farther augmented by the troops belonging to the king of Poland. This
prince, who owed every thing to the czar, came to pay him a visit at
Jaroslaw, on the river Sana, the 3d of June, 1714, and promised him
powerful succours. War was now declared against the Turks, in the name
of these two monarchs: but the Polish diet, not willing to break with
the Ottoman Porte, refused to ratify the engagement their king had
entered into. It was the fate of the czar to have, in the king of
Poland, an ally who could never be of any service to him. He entertained
the same hopes of assistance from the princes of Moldavia and Walachia,
and was, in the like manner, disappointed.

These two provinces ought to have taken this opportunity to shake off
the Turkish yoke. These countries were those of the ancient Daci, who,
together with the Gepidi, with whom they were intermixed, did, for a
long time, disturb the Roman empire. They were at length subdued by the
emperor Trajan, and Constantine the First made them embrace the
Christian religion. Dacia was one of the provinces of the eastern
empire; but shortly after these very people contributed to the ruin of
that of the west, by serving under the Odoacers and Theodorics.

They afterwards continued to be subject to the Greek empire; and when
the Turks made themselves masters of Constantinople, were governed and
oppressed by particular princes; at length they were totally subjected
by the Padisha, or Turkish emperor, who now granted them an investiture.
The Hospodar, or Waiwod, chosen by the Ottoman Porte to govern these
provinces, is always a Christian of the Greek church. The Turks, by this
choice, give a proof of their toleration, while our ignorant declaimers
are accusing them of persecution. The prince, nominated by the Porte, is
tributary to, or rather farms these countries of the grand seignior;
this dignity being always conferred on the best bidder, or him who makes
the greatest presents to the vizier, in like manner as the Greek
patriarch, at Constantinople. Sometimes this government is bestowed on a
dragoman, that is to say, the interpreter to the divan. These provinces
are seldom under the government of the same Waiwod, the Porte choosing
to divide them, in order to be more sure of retaining them in
subjection. Demetrius Cantemir was at this time Waiwod of Moldavia. This
prince was said to be descended from Tamerlane, because Tamerlane's true
name was Timur, and Timur was a Tartarian khan; and so, from the name
Tamurkan, say they, came the family of Cantemir.

Bassaraba Brancovan had been invested with the principality of
Walachia, but had not found any genealogist to deduce his pedigree from
the Tartarian conqueror. Cantemir thought the time now come to shake off
the Turkish yoke, and render himself independent by means of the czar's
protection. In this view he acted in the very same manner with Peter as
Mazeppa had done with Charles XII. He even engaged Bassaraba for the
present to join him in the conspiracy, of which he hoped to reap all the
benefit himself: his plan being to make himself master of both
provinces. The bishop of Jerusalem, who was at that time at Walachia,
was the soul of this conspiracy. Cantemir promised the czar to furnish
him with men and provisions, as Mazeppa did the king of Sweden, and kept
his word no better than he had done.

General Sheremeto advanced towards Jassi, the capital of Moldavia, to
inspect and occasionally assist the execution of these great projects.
Cantemir came thither to meet him, and was received with all the honours
due to a prince: but he acted as a prince in no one circumstance, but
that of publishing a manifesto against the Turkish empire. The hospodar
of Walachia, who soon discovered the ambitious views of his colleague,
quitted his party, and returned to his duty. The bishop of Jerusalem
dreading, with reason, the punishment due to his perfidy, fled and
concealed himself: the people of Walachia and Moldavia continued
faithful to the Ottoman Porte, and those, who were to have furnished
provisions for the Russian army, carried them to the Turks.

The vizier, Baltagi Mahomet had already crossed the Danube, at the head
of one hundred thousand men, and was advancing towards Jassi, along the
banks of the river Pruth (formerly the Hierasus), which falls into the
Danube, and which is nearly the boundary of Moldavia and Bessarabia. He
then dispatched count Poniatowsky,[87] a Polish gentleman, attached to
the fortunes of the king of Sweden, to desire that prince to make him a
visit, and see his army. Charles, whose pride always got the better of
his interest, would not consent to this proposal: he insisted that the
grand vizier should make him the first visit, in his asylum near Bender.
When Poniatowsky returned to the Ottoman camp, and endeavoured to excuse
this refusal of his master, the vizier, turning to the khan of the
Tartars, said, 'This is the very behaviour I expected from this proud
pagan.' This mutual pride, which never fails of alienating the minds of
those in power from each other, did no service to the king of Sweden's
affairs; and indeed that prince might have easily perceived, from the
beginning, that the Turks were not acting for his interest, but for
their own.

While the Turkish army was passing the Danube, the czar advanced by the
frontiers of Poland, and passed the Boristhenes, in order to relieve
marshal Sheremeto, who was then on the banks of the Pruth, to the
southward of Jassi, and in danger of being daily surrounded by an army
of ten thousand Turks, and an army of Tartars. Peter, before he passed
the Boristhenes, was in doubt whether he should expose his beloved
Catherine to these dangers, which seemed to increase every day; but
Catherine, on her side, looked upon this solicitude of the czar, for her
ease and safety, as an affront offered to her love and courage; and
pressed her consort so strongly on this head, that he found himself
under a necessity to consent that she should pass the river with him.
The army beheld her with eyes of joy and admiration, marching on
horseback at the head of the troops, for she rarely made use of a
carriage. After passing the Boristhenes, they had a tract of desert
country to pass through, and then to cross the Bog, and afterwards the
river Tiras, now called the Niester, and then another desert to
traverse, before they came to the banks of the Pruth. Catherine, during
this fatiguing march, animated the whole army by her cheerfulness and
affability. She sent refreshments to such of the officers who were sick,
and extended her care even to the meanest soldier.

July 4, 1711.] At length the czar brought his army in sight of Jassi.
Here he was to establish his magazine. Bassaraba, the hospodar of
Walachia, who had again embraced the interest of the Ottoman Porte, but
still, in appearance, continued a friend to the czar, proposed to that
prince to make peace with the Turks, although he had received no
commission from the grand vizier for that purpose. His deceit, however,
was soon discovered; and the czar contented himself with demanding only
provisions for his army, which Bassaraba neither could nor would
furnish. It was very difficult to procure any supplies from Poland; and
these, which prince Cantemir had promised, and which he vainly hoped to
procure from Walachia, could not be brought from thence. These
disappointments rendered the situation of the Russian army very
disagreeable; and, as an addition to their afflictions, they were
infested with an immense swarm of grasshoppers, that covered the face of
the whole country, and devoured, or spoiled, every thing where they
alighted. They were likewise frequently in want of water during their
march through sandy deserts, and beneath a scorching sun: what little
they could procure, they were obliged to have brought in vessels to the
camp, from a considerable distance.

During this dangerous and fatiguing march, the czar, by a singular
fatality, found himself in the neighbourhood of his rival and
competitor, Charles; Bender not being above twenty-five leagues from the
place where the Russian army was encamped, near Jassi. Some parties of
Cossacks made excursions even to the place of that unfortunate monarch's
retreat; but the Crim Tartars, who hovered round that part of the
country, sufficiently secured him from any attempt that might be made to
seize his person; and Charles waited in his camp with impatience, and
did not fear the issue of the war.

Peter, as soon as he had established some magazines, marched in haste
with his army to the right of the river Pruth. His essential object was
to prevent the Turks, who were posted to the left, and towards the head
of the river, from crossing it, and marching towards him. This effected,
he would then be master of Moldavia and Walachia: with this view, he
dispatched general Janus, with the vanguard of the army, to oppose the
passage of the Turks; but the general did not arrive till they had
already began to cross the river upon their bridges; upon which he was
obliged to retreat, and his infantry was closely pursued by the Turks,
till the czar came up in person to his assistance.

The grand vizier now marched directly along the river towards the czar.
The two armies were very unequal in point of numbers: that of the Turks,
which had been reinforced by the Tartarian troops, consisted of nearly
two hundred and fifty thousand men, while that of the Russians hardly
amounted to thirty-five thousand. There was indeed a considerable body
of troops, headed by general Renne, on their march from the other side
of the Moldavian mountains; but the Turks had cut off all communication
with those parts.

The czar's army now began to be in want of provisions, nor could,
without the greatest difficulty, procure water, though encamped at a
very small distance from the river; being exposed to a furious discharge
from the batteries, which the grand vizier had caused to be erected on
the left side of the river, under the care of a body of troops, that
kept up a constant fire against the Russians. By this relation, which is
strictly circumstantial and true, it appears that Baltagi Mahomet, the
Turkish vizier, far from being the pusillanimous, or weak commander,
which the Swedes have represented him, gave proofs, on this occasion,
that he perfectly well understood his business. The passing the Pruth in
the sight of the enemy, obliging him to retreat, and harassing him in
that retreat; the cutting off all communication between the czar's army,
and a body of cavalry that was marching to reinforce it; the hemming in
this army, without the least probability of a retreat; and the cutting
off all supplies of water and provisions, by keeping it constantly under
the check of the batteries on the opposite side of the river, were
manoeuvres that in no ways bespoke the unexperienced or indolent
general.

Peter now saw himself in a situation even worse than that to which he
had reduced his rival, Charles XII. at Pultowa; being, like him,
surrounded by a superior army, and in greater want of provisions; and,
like him, having confided in the promises of a prince, too powerful to
be bound by those promises, he resolved upon a retreat; and endeavoured
to return towards Jassi, in order to choose a more advantageous
situation for his camp.

July 20, 1711.] He accordingly decamped under favour of the night; but
his army had scarcely begun its march, when, at break of day, the Turks
fell upon his rear: but the Preobrazinski regiment turning about, and
standing firm, did, for a considerable time, check the fury of their
onset. The Russians then formed themselves, and made a line of
intrenchments with their waggons and baggage. The same day (July 21.)
the Turks returned again to the attack, with the whole body of their
army; and, as a proof that the Russians knew how to defend themselves,
let what will be alleged to the contrary, they also made head against
this very superior force for a considerable time, killed a great number
of their enemies, who in vain endeavoured to break in upon them.

There were in the Ottoman army two officers belonging to the king of
Sweden, namely, count Poniatowsky and the count of Sparre, who had the
command of a body of Cossacks in that prince's interest. My papers
inform me, that these two generals advised the grand vizier to avoid
coming to action with the Russians, and content himself with depriving
them of supplies of water and provisions, which would oblige them either
to surrender prisoners of war, or to perish with famine. Other memoirs
pretend, on the contrary, that these officers would have persuaded
Mahomet to fall upon this feeble and half-starved army, in a weak and
distressed condition, and put all to the sword. The first of these seems
to be the most prudent and circumspect; but the second is more agreeable
to the character of generals who had been trained up under Charles XII.

The real fact is, that the grand vizier fell upon the rear of the
Russian army, at the dawn of day, which was thrown into confusion, and
there remained only a line of four hundred men to confront the Turks.
This small body formed itself with amazing quickness, under the orders
of a German general, named Alard, who, to his immortal honour, made such
rapid and excellent dispositions on this occasion, that the Russians
withstood, for upwards of three hours, the repeated attack of the whole
Ottoman army, without losing a foot of ground.

The czar now found himself amply repaid for the immense pains he had
taken to inure his troops to strict discipline. At the battle of Narva,
sixty thousand men were defeated by only eight thousand, because the
former were undisciplined; and here we behold a rear-guard, consisting
of only eight thousand Russians, sustaining the efforts of one hundred
and fifty thousand Turks, killing seven thousand of them, and obliging
the rest to return back.

After this sharp engagement, both armies intrenched themselves for that
night: but the Russians still continued enclosed, and deprived of all
provisions, even water; for notwithstanding they were so near the river
Pruth, yet they did not dare approach its banks; for as soon as any
parties were sent out to find water, a body of Turks, posted on the
opposite shore, drove them back by a furious discharge from their
cannon, loaded with chain shot: and the body of the Turkish army, which
had attacked that of the czar the day before, continued to play upon
them from another quarter, with the whole force of their artillery.

The Russian army appeared now to be lost beyond resource, by its
position, by the inequality of numbers, and by the want of provisions.
The skirmishes on both sides were frequent and bloody: the Russian
cavalry being almost all dismounted, could no longer be of any service,
unless by fighting on foot: in a word, the situation of affairs was
desperate. It was out of their power to retreat, they had nothing left
but to gain a complete victory; to perish to the last man, or to be made
slaves by the infidels.

All the accounts and memoirs of those times unanimously agree, that the
czar, divided within himself, whether or not he should expose his wife,
his army, his empire, and the fruits of all his labours, to almost
inevitable destruction; retired to his tent, oppressed with grief, and
seized with violent convulsions, to which he was naturally subject, and
which the present desperate situation of his affairs brought upon him
with redoubled violence. In this condition he remained alone in his
tent, having given positive orders, that no one should be admitted to be
a witness to the distraction of his mind. But Catherine, hearing of his
disorders, forced her way in to him; and, on this occasion, Peter found
how happy it was for him that he had permitted his wife to accompany him
in this expedition.

A wife, who, like her, had faced death in its most horrible shapes, and
had exposed her person, like the meanest soldier, to the fire of the
Turkish artillery, had an undoubted right to speak to her husband, and
to be heard. The czar accordingly listened to what she had to say, and
in the end suffered himself to be persuaded to try and send to the
vizier with proposals of peace.

It has been a custom, from time immemorial, throughout the East, that
when any people apply for an audience of the sovereign, or his
representative, they must not presume to approach them without a
present. On this occasion, therefore, Catherine mustered the few jewels
that she had brought with her, on this military tour, in which no
magnificence or luxury were admitted; to these she added two black
foxes' skins, and what ready money she could collect; the latter was
designed for a present to the kiaia. She made choice herself of an
officer, on whose fidelity and understanding she thought she could
depend, who, accompanied with two servants, was to carry the presents to
the grand vizier, and afterwards to deliver the money intended for the
kiaia into his own hand. This officer was likewise charged with a letter
from marshal Sheremeto to the grand vizier. The memoirs of czar Peter
mentions this letter, but they take no notice of the other particulars
of Catherine's conduct in this business; however, they are sufficiently
confirmed by the declaration issued by Peter himself, in 1723, when he
caused Catherine to be crowned empress, wherein we find these
words:--'She has been of the greatest assistance to us in all our
dangers, and particularly in the battle of Pruth, when our army was
reduced to twenty-two thousand men.' If the czar had then indeed no more
men capable of bearing arms, the service which Catherine did him, on
that occasion, was fully equivalent to the honours and dignities
conferred upon her. The MS. journal of Peter the Great observes, that on
the day of the bloody battle (on the 20th July), he had thirty-one
thousand five hundred and fifty-four foot, and six thousand six hundred
and ninety-two horse, the latter almost all dismounted; he must then
have lost sixteen thousand two hundred and forty-six men in that
engagement. The same memoirs affirm, the loss sustained by the Turks
greatly exceeded that of the Russians; for as the former rushed upon the
czar's troops pell-mell, and without observing any order, hardly a
single fire of the latter missed its effect. If this is fact, the affair
of the 20th and 21st of July, was one of the most bloody that had been
known for many ages.

We must either suspect Peter the Great of having been mistaken, in his
declaration at the crowning of the empress, when he acknowledges 'his
obligations to her of having saved his army, which was reduced to
twenty-two thousand men,' or accuse him of a falsity in his journal,
wherein he says, that the day on which the above battle was fought, his
army, exclusive of the succours he expected from the other side the
Moldavian mountains, amounted to thirty-one thousand five hundred and
fifty-four foot, and six thousand six hundred and ninety-two horse.
According to this calculation, the battle of Pruth must have been by far
more terrible than the historians or memorials have represented on
either side. There must certainly be some mistake here, which is no
uncommon thing in the relation of campaigns, especially when the writer
enters into a minute detail of circumstances. The surest method,
therefore, on these occasions, is to confine ourselves to the principal
events, the victory and the defeat; as we can very seldom know, with any
degree of certainty, the exact loss on either side.

But however here the Russian army might be reduced in point of numbers,
there were still hopes that the grand vizier, deceived by their vigorous
and obstinate resistance, might be induced to grant them peace, upon
such terms as might be honourable to his master's arms, and at the same
time not absolutely disgraceful to those of the czar. It was the great
merit of Catherine to have perceived this possibility, at a time when
her consort and his generals expected nothing less than inevitable
destruction.

Norberg, in his History of Charles XII. quotes a letter, sent by the
czar to the grand vizier, in which he expresses himself thus:--'If,
contrary to my intentions, I have been so unhappy as to incur the
displeasure of his highness, I am ready to make reparation for any cause
of complaint he may have against me; I conjure you, most noble general,
to prevent the further effusion of blood; give orders, I beseech you, to
put a stop to the dreadful fire of your artillery, and accept the
hostage I herewith send you.'

This letter carries all the marks of falsity with it, as do indeed most
of the random pieces of Norberg: it is dated 11th July, N. S. whereas no
letter was sent to Baltagi Mahomet till the 21st, N. S. neither was it
the czar who wrote to the vizier, but his general Sheremeto: there were
no such expressions made use of as--'if the czar has had the misfortune
to incur the displeasure of his highness;' such terms being suitable
only to a subject, who implores the pardon of his sovereign, whom he has
offended. There was no mention made of any hostage, nor was any one
sent. The letter was carried by an officer, in the midst of a furious
cannonade on both sides. Sheremeto, in his letter, only reminded the
vizier of certain overtures of peace that the Porte had made at the
beginning of the campaign, through the mediation of the Dutch and
English ministers, and by which the divan demanded that the fort and
harbour of Taganroc should be given up, which were the real subjects of
the war.

21st July, 1711.] Some hours elapsed before the messenger received an
answer from the grand vizier, and it was apprehended that he had either
been killed by the enemy's cannon, or that they detained him prisoner. A
second courier was therefore dispatched, with duplicates of the former
letters, and a council of war was immediately held, at which Catherine
was present. At this council ten general officers signed the following
resolution:--

'Resolved, If the enemy will not accept the conditions proposed, and
should insist upon our laying down our arms, and surrendering at
discretion, that all the ministers and general officers are unanimously
of opinion, to cut their way through the enemy sword in hand.'

In consequence of this resolution, a line of intrenchments was thrown
round the baggage, and the Russians marched some few paces out of their
camp, towards the enemy, when the grand vizier caused a suspension of
arms to be proclaimed between the two armies.

All the writers of the Swedish party have treated the grand vizier as a
cowardly and infamous wretch, who had been bribed to sell the honour of
his master's arms. In the same manner have several authors accused count
Piper of receiving money from the duke of Marlborough, to persuade the
king of Sweden to continue the war against the czar; and have laid to
the charge of the French minister, that he purchased the peace of
Seville for a stipulated sum. Such accusations ought never to be
advanced but on very strong proofs. It is very seldom that a minister
will stoop to such meannesses, which are always discovered, sooner or
later, by those who have been entrusted with the payment of the money,
or by the public registers, which never lie. A minister of state stands
as a public object to the eyes of all Europe. His credit and influence
depend wholly upon his character, and he is always sufficiently rich to
be above the temptation of becoming a traitor.

The place of viceroy of the Turkish empire is so illustrious, and the
profits annexed to it, in time of war, so immense, there was such a
profusion of every thing necessary, and even luxurious, in the camp of
Baltagi Mahomet, and, on the other hand, so much poverty and distress in
that of the czar, that surely the grand vizier was rather in a condition
to give than to receive. The trifling present of a woman, who had
nothing to send but a few skins and some jewels, in compliance with the
established custom of all courts, or rather those in particular of the
East, can never be considered in the light of a bribe. The frank and
open conduct of Baltagi Mahomet seems at once to give the lie to the
black accusations with which so many writers have stained their
relations. Vice chancellor Shaffiroff paid the vizier a public visit in
his tent: every thing was transacted in the most open manner, on both
sides; and indeed it could not be otherwise. The very first article of
the negotiation was entered upon in the presence of a person wholly
devoted to the king of Sweden, a domestic of count Poniatowsky, who was
himself one of that monarch's generals. This man served as an
interpreter, and the several articles were publicly reduced to writing
by the vizier's chief secretary, Hummer Effendi. Moreover, count
Poniatowsky was there in person. The present sent to the kiaia was
offered probably in form, and every thing was transacted agreeable to
the oriental customs. Other presents were made by the Turks in return;
so that there was not the least appearance of treachery or contrivance.
The motives which determined the vizier to consent to the proposals
offered him, were, first that the body of troops under the command of
general Renne, on the borders of the river Sireth, in Moldavia, had
already crossed three rivers, and were actually in the neighbourhood of
the Danube, where Renne had already made himself master of the town and
castle of Brahila, defended by a numerous garrison, under the command of
a basha. Secondly, the czar had likewise another body of troops
advancing through the frontiers of Poland; and, lastly, it is more than
probable that the vizier was not fully acquainted with the extreme
scarcity that was felt in the Russian camp. One enemy seldom furnishes
another with an exact account of his provisions and ammunition; on the
contrary, either side are accustomed rather to make a parade of plenty,
even at a time when they are in the greatest necessity. There can be no
artifices practised to gain intelligence of the true state of an
adversary's affairs, by means of spies, between the Turks and the
Russians. The difference of their dress, of their religion, and of their
language, will not permit it. They are, moreover, strangers to that
desertion which prevails in most of our armies; and, consequently, the
grand vizier could not be supposed to know the desperate condition to
which the czar's army was reduced.

Baltagi, who was not fond of war, and who, nevertheless, had conducted
this very well, thought that his expedition would be sufficiently
successful, if he put his master in possession of the towns and harbours
which made the subject of the war, stopt the progress of the victorious
army under Renne, and obliged that general to quit the banks of the
Danube, and return back into Russia, and for ever shut the entrance of
the Palus Mæotis, the Cimmerian Bosphorus, and the Black Sea, against an
enterprising prince; and, lastly, if he avoided taking these certain
advantages, on the hazard of a new battle (in which, after all, despair
might have got the better of superiority of numbers). The preceding day
only he had beheld his janissaries repulsed with loss; and there wanted
not examples of many victories having been gained by the weaker over the
strong. Such then were Mahomet's reasons for accepting the proposals of
peace. His conduct, however, did not merit the approbation of Charles's
officers, who served in the Turkish army, nor of the khan of Tartary. It
was the interest of the latter, and his followers, to reject all terms
of accommodation which would deprive them of the opportunity of ravaging
the frontiers of Russia and Poland. Charles XII. desired to be revenged
on his rival, the czar: but the general, and the first minister of the
Ottoman empire, was neither influenced by the private thirst of revenge,
which animated the Christian monarch, nor by the desire of booty, which
actuated the Tartar chief.

As soon as the suspension of arms was agreed to, and signed, the
Russians purchased of the Turks the provisions, of which they stood in
need. The articles of the peace were not signed at that time, as is
related by La Motraye, and which Norberg has copied from him. The
vizier, among other conditions, demanded that the czar should promise
not to interfere any more in the Polish affairs. This was a point
particularly insisted upon by count Poniatowsky; but it was, in fact,
the interest of the Ottoman crown, that the kingdom of Poland should
continue in its then defenceless and divided state; accordingly this
demand was reduced to that of the Russian troops evacuating the
frontiers of Poland. The khan of Tartary, on his side, demanded a
tribute of forty thousand sequins. This point, after being long debated,
was at length given up.

The grand vizier insisted a long time, that prince Cantemir should be
delivered up to him, as Patkul had been to the king of Sweden. Cantemir
was exactly in the same situation as Mazeppa had been. The czar caused
that hetman to be arraigned and tried for his defection, and afterwards
to be executed in effigy. The Turks were not acquainted with the nature
of such proceeding; they knew nothing of trials for contumacy, nor of
public condemnations. The affixing a sentence on any person, and
executing him in effigy, were the more unusual amongst them, as their
law forbids the representation of any human likeness whatever. The
vizier in vain insisted on Cantemir's being delivered up; Peter
peremptorily refused to comply, and wrote the following letter with his
own hand, to his vice-chancellor Shaffiroff.

'I can resign to the Turks all the country, as far as Curtzka, because I
have hopes of being able to recover it again; but I will, by no means,
violate my faith, which, once forfeited, can never be retrieved. I have
nothing I can properly call my own, but my honour. If I give up that, I
cease to be longer a king.'

At length the treaty was concluded, and signed, at a village called
Falksen, on the river Pruth. Among other things, it was stipulated, that
Azoph, and the territories belonging thereto, should be restored,
together with all the ammunition and artillery that were in the place,
before the czar made himself master thereof, in 1696. That the harbour
of Taganroc, in the Zabach Sea, should be demolished, as also that of
Samara, on the river of the same name; and several other fortresses.
There was likewise another article added, respecting the king of Sweden,
which article alone, sufficiently shews the little regard the vizier had
for that prince; for it was therein stipulated, that the czar should not
molest Charles, in his return to his dominions, and that afterwards the
czar and he might make peace with the other, if they were so inclined.

It is pretty evident by the wording of this extraordinary article, that
Baltagi Mahomet had not forgot the haughty manner in which Charles XII.
had behaved to him a short time before, and it is not unlikely that this
very behaviour of the king of Sweden might have been one inducement with
Mahomet to comply so readily with his rival's proposals for peace.
Charles's glory depended wholly on the ruin of the czar: but we are
seldom inclinable to exalt those who express a contempt for us: however,
this prince, who refused the vizier a visit in his camp, on his
invitation, when it was certainly his interest to have been upon good
terms with him, now came thither in haste and unasked, when the work
which put an end to all his hopes was on the point of being concluded.
The vizier did not go to meet him in person, but contented himself with
sending two of his bashas, nor would he stir out of his tent, till
Charles was within a few paces of him.

This interview passed, as every one knows, in mutual reproaches. Several
historians have thought, that the answer which the vizier made to the
king of Sweden, when that prince reproached him with not making the czar
prisoner, when he might have done it so easily, was the reply of a weak
man. 'If I had taken him prisoner,' said Mahomet, 'who would there be
to govern his dominions?'

It is very easy, however, to comprehend, that this was the answer of a
man who was piqued with resentment, and these words which he
added--'For it is not proper that every crowned head should quit his
dominions'--sufficiently shewed that he intended to mortify the refugee
of Bender.

Charles gained nothing by his journey, but the pleasure of tearing the
vizier's robe with his spurs; while that officer, who was in a condition
to make him repent this splenetic insult, seemed not to notice it, in
which he was certainly greatly superior to Charles. If any thing could
have made that monarch sensible, in the midst of his life, how easily
fortune can put greatness to the blush, it would have been the
reflection, that at the battle of Pultowa, a pastry-cook's boy had
obliged his whole army to surrender at discretion; and in this of Pruth
a wood-cutter was the arbiter of his fate, and that of his rival the
czar: for the vizier, Baltagi Mahomet, had been a cutter of wood in the
grand seignior's seraglio, as his name implied; and, far from being
ashamed of that title, he gloried in it: so much do the manners of the
eastern people differ from ours.

When the news of this treaty reached Constantinople, the grand seignior
was so well pleased, that he ordered public rejoicings to be made for a
whole week, and Mahomet, the kiaia, or lieutenant-general, who brought
the tidings to the divan, was instantly raised to the dignity of boujouk
imraour, or master of the horse: a certain proof that the sultan did not
think himself ill served by his vizier.

Norberg seems to have known very little of the Turkish government, when
he says, that 'the grand seignior was obliged to keep fair with Baltagi
Mahomet, that vizier having rendered himself formidable.' The
janissaries indeed have often rendered themselves formidable to their
sultans; but there is not one example of a vizier, who has not been
easily sacrificed to the will or orders of his sovereign, and Mahomet
was in no condition to support himself by his own power. Besides,
Norberg manifestly contradicts himself, by affirming in the same page,
that the janissaries were irritated against Mahomet, and that the sultan
stood in dread of his power.

The king of Sweden was now reduced to the necessity of forming cabals in
the Ottoman court; and a monarch, who had so lately made kings by his
own power, was now seen waiting for audience, and offering memorials and
petitions which were refused.

Charles ran through all the ambages of intrigue, like a subject who
endeavours to make a minister suspected by his master. In this manner he
acted against Mahomet, and against those who succeeded him. At one time
he addressed himself to the sultana Valide by means of a Jewess, who had
admission into the seraglio; at another, he employed one of the eunuchs
for the same purpose. At length he had recourse to a man who was to
mingle among the grand seignior's guards, and, by counterfeiting a
person out of his senses, to attract the attention of the sultan, and by
that means deliver into his own hand a memorial from Charles. From all
these various schemes, the king of Sweden drew only the mortification of
seeing himself deprived of his thaim; that is to say, of the daily
pension which the Porte of its generosity had assigned him for his
subsistence, and which amounted to about one thousand five hundred
French livres.[88] The grand vizier, instead of remitting this
allowance to him as usual, sent him an order, in the form of a friendly
advice, to quit the grand seignior's dominions.

Charles, however, was absolutely determined not to depart, still
flattering himself with the vain hope, that he should once more re-enter
Poland and Russia with a powerful army of Turks. Every one knows what
was the issue of his inflexible boldness in the year 1714, and how he
engaged an army of janissaries, Spahis, and Tartars, with only himself,
his secretaries, his valet de chambre, cook, and stable men; that he was
taken prisoner in that country, where he had been treated with the
greatest hospitality; and that he at length got back to his own kingdom
in the disguise of a courier, after having lived five years in Turkey:
from all which it remains to be acknowledged, that if there was reason
in the conduct of this extraordinary prince, it was a reason of a very
different nature to that of other men.




CHAP. XXI.

    Conclusion of the Affairs of Pruth.


It is necessary in this place to repeat an event already related in the
History of Charles XII. It happened during the suspension of arms which
preceded the treaty of Pruth, that two Tartarian soldiers surprised and
took prisoners two Italian officers belonging to the czar's army, and
sold them to an officer of the Turkish janissaries. The vizier being
informed of this breach of public faith, punished the two Tartars with
death. How are we to reconcile this severe delicacy with the violation
of the law of nations in the person of Tolstoy, the czar's ambassador,
whom this very vizier caused to be arrested in the streets of
Constantinople, and afterwards imprisoned in the castle of the Seven
Towers? There is always some reason for the contradictions we find in
the actions of mankind. Baltagi Mahomet was incensed against the khan of
Tartary, for having opposed the peace he had lately made, and was
resolved to shew that chieftain that he was his master.

The treaty was no sooner concluded, than the czar quitted the borders of
the Pruth, and returned towards his own dominions, followed by a body of
eight thousand Turks, whom the vizier had sent as an army of observation
to watch the motions of the Russian army during its march, and also to
serve as an escort or safeguard to them against the wandering Tartars
which infested those parts.

Peter instantly set about accomplishing the treaty, by demolishing the
fortresses of Samara and Kamienska; but the restoring of Azoph, and the
demolition of the port of Taganroc, met with some difficulties in the
execution. According to the terms of the treaty it was necessary to
distinguish the artillery and ammunition which belonged to the Turks in
Azoph before that place was taken by the czar, from those which had been
sent thither after it fell into his hands. The governor of the place
spun out this affair to a tedious length, at which the Porte was greatly
incensed, and not without reason: the sultan was impatient to receive
the keys of Azoph. The vizier promised they should be sent from time to
time, but the governor always found means to delay the delivery of them.
Baltagi Mahomet lost the good graces of his master, and with them his
place. The khan of Tartary and his other enemies made such good use of
their interest with the sultan, that the grand vizier was deposed,
several bashas were disgraced at the same time; but the grand seignior,
well convinced of this minister's fidelity, did not deprive him either
of his life or estate, but only sent him to Mytilene to take on him the
command of that island. This simple removal from the helm of affairs
(Nov. 1711,), and the continuing to him his fortunes, and above all the
giving him the command in Mytilene, sufficiently contradicts all that
Norberg has advanced, to induce us to believe that this vizier had been
corrupted with the czar's money.

Norberg asserts furthermore, that the Bostangi basha, who came to divest
him of his office, and to acquaint him of the grand seignior's sentence,
declared him at the same time, 'a traitor, one who had disobeyed the
orders of his sovereign lord, had sold himself to the enemy for money,
and was found guilty of not having taken proper care of the interests of
the king of Sweden.' In the first place, this kind of declarations are
not at all in use in Turkey: the orders of the grand seignior always
being issued privately, and executed with secresy. Secondly, if the
vizier had been declared a traitor, a rebel, and a corrupted person,
crimes of this nature would have been instantly punished with death in a
country where they are never forgiven. Lastly, if he was punishable for
not having sufficiently attended to the interests of the king of Sweden,
it is evident that this prince must have had such a degree of influence
at the Ottoman Porte, as to have made the other ministers to tremble,
who would consequently have endeavoured to gain his good graces;
whereas, on the contrary, the basha Jussuf, aga of the janissaries, who
succeeded Mahomet Baltagi as grand vizier, had the same sentiments as
his predecessor, in relation to Charles's conduct, and was so far from
doing him any service that he thought of nothing but how to get rid of
so dangerous a guest; and when count Poniatowsky, the companion and
confidant of that monarch, went to compliment the vizier on his new
dignity, the latter spoke to him thus. 'Pagan, I forewarn thee, that if
ever I find thee hatching any intrigues, I will, upon the first notice,
cause thee to be thrown into the sea with a stone about thy neck.'

This compliment count Poniatowsky himself relates in the memoirs which
he drew up at my request, and is a sufficient proof of the little
influence his master had in the Turkish court. All that Norberg has
related touching the affairs of that empire, appear to come from
a prejudiced person, and one who was very ill informed of the
circumstances he pretends to write about. And we may count among the
errors of a party-spirit and political falsehoods, every thing which
this writer advances unsupported by proofs, concerning the pretended
corruption of a grand vizier, that is, of a person who had the disposal
of upwards of sixty millions per annum, without being subject to the
least account.[89] I have now before me the letter which count
Poniatowsky wrote to King Stanislaus immediately after the signing the
treaty of Pruth, in which he upbraids Baltagi Mahomet with the slight he
shewed to the king of Sweden, his dislike to the war, and the
unsteadiness of his temper; but never once hints the least charge of
corruption: for he knew too well what the place of grand vizier was, to
entertain an idea, that the czar was capable of setting a price upon the
infidelity of the second person in the Ottoman empire.

Schaffirow and Sheremeto, who remained at Constantinople as hostages on
the part of the czar for his performance of the treaty, were not used in
the manner they would have been if known to have purchased this peace,
and to have joined with the vizier in deceiving his master. They were
left to go at liberty about the city, escorted by two companies of
janissaries.

The czar's ambassador Tolstoy having been released from his confinement
in the Seven Towers, immediately upon the signing of the treaty of
Pruth, the Dutch and English ministers interposed with the new vizier to
see the several articles of that treaty put into execution.

Azoph was at length restored to the Turks, and the fortresses mentioned
in the treaty were demolished according to stipulation. And now the
Ottoman Porte, though very little inclinable to interfere in the
differences between Christian princes, could not without vanity behold
himself made arbitrator between Russia, Poland, and the king of Sweden;
and insisted that the czar should withdraw his troops out of Poland, and
deliver the Turkish empire from so dangerous a neighbour; and, desirous
that the Christian princes might continually be at war with each other,
wished for nothing so much as to send Charles home to his own dominions,
but all this while had not the least intention of furnishing him with an
army. The Tartars were still for war, as an artificer is willing to
seize every opportunity to exercise his calling. The janissaries
likewise wished to be called into the field, but more out of hatred
against the Christians, their naturally restless disposition, and from a
fondness for rapine and licentiousness, than from any other motives.
Nevertheless, the English and Dutch ministers managed their negotiations
so well, that they prevailed over the opposite party: the treaty of
Pruth was confirmed, but with the addition of a new article, by which it
was stipulated that the czar should withdraw his forces from Poland
within three months, and that the sultan should immediately send Charles
XII. out of his dominions.

We may judge from this new treaty whether the king of Sweden had that
interest at the Porte which some writers would have us to believe. He
was evidently sacrificed on this occasion by the new vizier, basha
Jussuf, as he had been before by Baltagi Mahomet. The historians of his
party could find no other expedient to colour over this fresh affront,
but that of accusing Jussuf of having been bribed like his predecessor.
Such repeated imputations, unsupported by any proofs, are rather the
clamours of an impotent cabal, than the testimonies of history; but
faction, when driven to acknowledge facts, will ever be endeavouring to
alter circumstances and motives; and, unhappily, it is thus that all the
histories of our times will be handed down to posterity so altered, that
they will be unable to distinguish truth from falsehoods.




CHAP. XXII.

    Marriage of the czarowitz.--The marriage of Peter and Catherine
    publicly solemnized.--Catherine finds her brother.


This unsuccessful campaign of Pruth proved more hurtful to the czar than
ever the battle of Narva was; for after that defeat he had found means
not only to retrieve his losses, but also to wrest Ingria out of the
hands of Charles XII.; but by the treaty of Falksten, in which he
consented to give up to the sultan his forts and harbours on the Palus
Mæotis, he for ever lost his projected superiority in the Black Sea.
He had besides an infinite deal of work on his hands; his new
establishments in Russia were to be perfected, he had to prosecute his
victories over the Swedes, to settle king Augustus firmly on the Polish
throne, and to manage affairs properly with the several powers with whom
he was in alliance; but the fatigues he had undergone having impaired
his health, he was obliged to go to Carlsbad[90] to drink the waters of
that place. While he was there he gave orders for his troops to enter
Pomerania, who blockaded Stralsund, and took five other towns in the
neighbourhood.

Pomerania is the most northern province of Germany, bounded on the east
by Prussia and Poland, on the west by Brandenburg, on the south by
Mecklenburg, and on the north by the Baltic Sea. It has changed masters
almost every century: Gustavus Adolphus got possession of it in his
famous thirty years war, and it was afterwards solemnly ceded to the
crown of Sweden by the treaty of Westphalia: with a reservation of the
little bishopric of Camin, and a few other small towns lying in Upper
Pomerania. The whole of this province properly belongs to the elector of
Brandenburg, in virtue of a family compact made with the dukes of
Pomerania, whose family being extinct in 1637, consequently by the laws
of the empire the house of Brandenburg had an undoubted right to the
succession; but necessity, the first of all laws, occasioned this family
compact to be set aside by the treaty of Osnaburg; after which, almost
the whole of Pomerania fell to the lot of the victorious Swedes.

The czar's intention was to wrest from Sweden all the provinces that
crown was possessed of in Germany; and, in order to accomplish his
design, he found it necessary to enter into a confederacy with the
electors of Hanover and Brandenburg, and the king of Denmark. Peter drew
up the several articles of the treaty he projected with these powers,
and also a complete plan of the necessary operations for rendering him
master of Pomerania.

In the meanwhile he went to Torgau, to be present at the nuptials of his
son the czarowitz Alexis with the princess of Wolfenbuttel (Oct. 23,
1711.), sister to the consort of Charles VI. emperor of Germany;
nuptials which, in the end, proved fatal to his own peace of mind, and
to the lives of the unfortunate pair.

The czarowitz was born of the first marriage of Peter the Great to
Eudocia Lapoukin, to whom he was espoused in 1689: she was at that time
shut up in the monastery of Susdal; their son Alexis Petrowitz, who was
born the 1st of March, 1690, was now in his twenty-second year: this
prince was not then at all known in Europe; a minister, whose memoirs of
the court of Russia have been printed, says in a letter he writes to his
master, dated August 25, 1711, that 'this prince was tall and well made,
resembled his father greatly, was of an excellent disposition, very
pious, had read the Bible five times over, took great delight in the
ancient Greek historians, appeared to have a very quick apprehension and
understanding, was well acquainted with the mathematics, the art of war,
navigation, and hydraulics; that he understood the German language, and
was then learning the French, but that his father would never suffer him
to go through a regular course of study.'

This character is very different from that which the czar himself gives
of his son some time afterwards, in which we shall see with how much
grief he reproaches him with faults directly opposite to those good
qualities, for which this minister seems so much to admire him.

We must leave posterity, therefore, to determine between the testimony
of a stranger, who may have formed too slight a judgment, and the
declaration of a parent, who thought himself under a necessity of
sacrificing the dictates of nature to the good of his people. If the
minister was no better acquainted with the disposition of Alexis than he
seems to have been with his outward form, his evidence will have but
little weight; for he describes this prince as tall and well made,
whereas the memoirs sent me from Petersburg say, that he was neither the
one nor the other.

His mother-in-law, Catherine, was not present at his nuptials; for
though she was already looked upon as czarina, yet she had not been
publicly acknowledged as such: and moreover, as she had only the title
of highness given her at the czar's court, her rank was not sufficiently
settled to admit of her signing the contract, or to appear at the
ceremony in a station befitting the consort of Peter the Great. She
therefore remained at Thorn in Polish Prussia. Soon after the nuptials
were celebrated, the czar sent the new-married couple away to
Wolfenbuttel (Jan. 9, 1712), and brought back the czarina to Petersburg
with that dispatch and privacy which he observed in all his journies.

Feb. 19, 1712.] Having now disposed of his son, he publicly solemnized
his own nuptials with Catherine, which had been declared in private
before. This ceremony was performed with as much magnificence as could
be expected in a city but yet in its infancy, and from a revenue
exhausted by the late destructive war against the Turks, and that which
he was still engaged in against the king of Sweden. The czar gave orders
for, and assisted himself in, all the preparations for the ceremony,
according to the usual custom; and Catherine was now publicly declared
czarina, in reward for having saved her husband and his whole army.

The acclamations with which this declaration was received at Petersburg
were sincere: the applauses which subjects confer on the actions of a
despotic sovereign are generally suspected; but on this occasion they
were confirmed by the united voice of all the thinking part of Europe,
who beheld with pleasure, on the one hand, the heir of a vast monarchy
with no other glory than that of his birth, married to a petty princess;
and, on the other hand, a powerful conqueror, and a law-giver, publicly
sharing his bed and his throne with a stranger and a captive, who had
nothing to recommend her but her merit: and this approbation became more
general as the minds of men grew more enlightened by that sound
philosophy, which has made so great a progress in our understandings
within these last forty years: a philosophy, equally sublime and
discerning, which teaches us to pay only the exterior respect to
greatness and authority, while we reserve our esteem and veneration for
shining talents and meritorious services.

And here I think myself under an obligation to relate what I have met
touching this marriage in the dispatches of count Bassewitz, aulic
counsellor at Vienna, and long time minister from Holstein at the court
of Russia; a person of great merit, and whose memory is still held in
the highest esteem in Germany. In some of his letters he speaks thus:
'The czarina had not only been the main instrument of procuring the czar
that reputation which he enjoyed, but was likewise essentially necessary
in the preservation of his life. This prince was unhappily subject to
violent convulsion fits, which were thought to be the effects of poison
which had been given him while he was young. Catherine alone had found
the secret of alleviating his sufferings by an unwearied assiduity and
attention to whatever she thought would please him, and made it the
whole study of her life to preserve a health so valuable to the kingdom
and to herself, insomuch, that the czar finding he could not live
without her, made her the companion of his throne and bed.' I here only
repeat the express words of the writer himself.

Fortune, which has furnished us with many extraordinary scenes in this
part of the world, and who had raised Catherine from the lowest abyss of
misery and distress to the pinnacle of human grandeur, wrought another
extraordinary incident in her favour some few years after her marriage
with the czar, and which I find thus related in a curious manuscript of
a person who was at that time in the czar's service, and who speaks of
it as a thing to which he was eye-witness.

An envoy from king Augustus to the court of Peter the Great, being on
his return home through Courland, and having put up at an inn by the
way, heard the voice of a person who seemed in great distress, and whom
the people of the house were treating in that insulting manner which is
but too common on such occasions: the stranger, with a tone of
resentment, made answer, that they would not dare to use him thus, if he
could but once get to the speech of the czar, at whose court he had
perhaps more powerful protectors than they imagined.

The envoy, upon hearing this, had a curiosity to ask the man some
questions, and, from certain answers he let fall, and a close
examination of his face, he thought he found in him some resemblance of
the empress Catherine; and, when he came to Dresden, he could not
forbear writing to one of his friends at Petersburg concerning it. This
letter, by accident, came to the czar's hands, who immediately sent an
order to prince Repnin, then governor of Riga, to endeavour to find out
the person mentioned in the letter. Prince Repnin immediately dispatched
a messenger to Mittau, in Courland, who, on inquiry, found out the man,
and learned that his name was Charles Scavronsky; that he was the son of
a Lithuanian gentleman, who had been killed in the wars of Poland, and
had left two children then in the cradle, a boy and a girl, who had
neither of them received any other education than that which simple
nature gives to those who are abandoned by the world. Scavronsky, who
had been parted from his sister while they were both infants, knew
nothing further of her than that she had been taken prisoner in
Marienburg, in the year 1704, and supposed her to be still in the
household of prince Menzikoff, where he imagined she might have made
some little fortune.

Prince Repnin, agreeable to the particular orders he had received from
the czar, caused Scavronsky to be seized, and conducted to Riga, under
pretence of some crime laid to his charge; and, to give a better colour
to the matter, at his arrival there, a sham information was drawn up
against him, and he was soon after sent from thence to Petersburg, under
a strong guard, with orders to treat him well upon the road.

When he came to that capital, he was carried to the house of an officer
of the emperor's palace, named Shepleff, who, having been previously
instructed in the part he was to play, drew several circumstances from
the young man in relation to his condition; and, after some time, told
him, that although the information, which had been sent up from Riga
against him, was of a very serious nature, yet he would have justice
done him; but that it would be necessary to present a petition to his
majesty for that purpose; that one should accordingly be drawn up in his
name, and that he (Shepleff) would find means that he should deliver it
into the czar's own hands.

The next day the czar came to dine with Shepleff, at his own house, who
presented Scavronsky to him; when his majesty, after asking him
abundance of questions was convinced, by the natural answers he gave,
that he was really the czarina's brother; they had both lived in
Livonia, when young, and the czar found every thing that Scavronsky said
to him, in relation to his family affairs, tally exactly with what his
wife had told him concerning her brother, and the misfortunes which had
befallen her and her brother in the earlier part of their lives.

The czar, now satisfied of the truth, proposed the next day to the
empress to go and dine with him at Shepleff's; and, when dinner was
over, he gave orders that the man, whom he had examined the day before,
should be brought in again. Accordingly he was introduced, dressed in
the same clothes he had wore while on his journey to Riga; the czar not
being willing that he should appear in any other garb than what his
unhappy circumstances had accustomed him to.

He interrogated him again, in the presence of his wife; and the MS.
adds, that, at the end, he turned about to the empress, and said these
very words:--'This man is your brother; come hither, Charles, and kiss
the hand of the empress, and embrace your sister.'

The author of this narrative adds further, that the empress fainted away
with surprise; and that, when she came to herself again, the czar said,
'There is nothing in this but what is very natural. This gentlemen is my
brother in-law; if he has merit, we will make something of him; if he
has not, we must leave him as he is.'

I am of opinion, that this speech shews as much greatness as simplicity,
and a greatness not very common. My author says, that Scavronsky
remained a considerable time at Shepleff's house; that the czar assigned
him a handsome pension, but that he led a very retired life. He carries
his relation of this adventure no farther, as he made use of it only to
disclose the secret of Catherine's brother: but we know, from other
authorities, that this gentleman was afterwards created a count; that he
married a young lady of quality, by whom he had two daughters, who were
married to two of the principal noblemen in Russia. I leave to those,
who may be better informed of the particulars, to distinguish what is
fact in this relation, from what may have been added; and shall only
say, that the author does not seem to have told this story out of a
fondness for entertaining his readers with the marvellous, since his
papers were not intended to be published. He is writing freely to a
friend, about a thing of which he says he was an eye-witness. He may
have been mistaken in some circumstances, but the fact itself has all
the appearance of truth; for if this gentleman had known that his sister
was raised to so great dignity and power, he would not certainly have
remained so many years without having made himself known to her. And
this discovery, however extraordinary it may seem, is certainly not more
so than the exaltation of Catherine herself; and both the one and the
other are striking proofs of the force of destiny, and may teach us to
be cautious how we treat as fabulous several events of antiquity, which
perhaps are less contradictory to the common order of things, than the
adventures of this empress.

The rejoicings made by the czar Peter for his own marriage, and that of
his son, were not of the nature of those transient amusements which
exhaust the public treasure, and are presently lost in oblivion. He
completed his grand foundry for cannon, and finished the admiralty
buildings. The highways were repaired, several ships built, and others
put upon the stocks; new canals were dug, and the finishing hand put to
the grand warehouses, and other public buildings, and the trade of
Petersburg began to assume a flourishing face. He issued an ordinance
for removing the senate from Moscow to Petersburg, which was executed in
the month of April, 1712. By this step he made his new city the capital
of the empire, and early he employed a number of Swedish prisoners in
beautifying this city, whose foundation had been laid upon their defeat.




CHAP. XXIII.

    Taking of Stetin.--Descent upon Finland.--Event of the year 1712.


Peter, now seeing himself happy in his own family, and in his state, and
successful in his war against Charles XII. and in the several
negotiations which he had entered into with other powers, who were
resolved to assist him in driving out the Swedes from the continent, and
cooping them up for ever within the narrow isthmus of Scandinavia, began
to turn his views entirely towards the north-west coasts of Europe, not
laying aside all thoughts of the Palus Mæotis, or Black Sea. The keys of
Azoph, which had been so long withheld from the basha, who was to have
taken possession of that place for the sultan, his master, were now
given up; and, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the king of Sweden,
the intrigues of his friends at the Ottoman Porte, and even some menaces
of a new war on the part of the Turks, both that nation and the Russian
empire continued at peace.

Charles XII. still obstinate in his resolution not to depart from
Bender, tamely submitted his hopes and fortunes to the caprice of a
grand vizier; while the czar was threatening all his provinces, arming
against him the king of Denmark, and the elector of Hanover, and had
almost persuaded the king of Prussia, and even the Poles and Saxons, to
declare openly for him.

Charles, ever of the same inflexible disposition, behaved in the like
manner towards his enemies, who now seemed united to overwhelm him, as
he had done in all his transactions with the Ottoman Porte; and, from
his lurking-place in the deserts of Bessarabia, defied the czar, the
kings of Poland, Denmark, and Prussia, the elector of Hanover (soon
afterwards king of England), and the emperor of Germany, whom he had so
greatly offended, when he was traversing Silesia with his victorious
troops, and who now shewed his resentment, by abandoning him to his ill
fortune, and refused to take under his protection any of those
countries, which as yet belonged to the Swedes in Germany.

1712.] It would have been no difficult matter for him to have broken the
league which was forming against him, would he have consented to cede
Stetin, in Pomerania, to Frederick (the first) king of Prussia, and
elector of Brandenburg, who had a lawful claim thereto; but Charles did
not then look upon Prussia as a power of any consequence: and indeed
neither he, nor any other person, could at that time foresee, that this
petty kingdom, and the electorate of Brandenburg, either of which were
little better than deserts, would one day become formidable. Charles
therefore would not listen to any proposal of accommodation, but
determined rather to stake all than to give up any thing, sent orders to
the regency of Stockholm, to make all possible resistance, both by sea
and land: and these orders were obeyed, notwithstanding that his
dominions were almost exhausted of men and money. The senate of
Stockholm fitted out a fleet of thirteen ships of the line, and every
person capable of bearing arms came voluntarily to offer their service:
in a word, the inflexible courage and pride of Charles seemed to be
infused into all his subjects, who were almost as unfortunate as their
master.

It can hardly be supposed, that Charles's conduct was formed upon any
regular plan. He had still a powerful party in Poland, which assisted by
the Crim Tartars, might indeed have desolated that wretched country, but
could not have replaced Stanislaus on the throne; and his hope of
engaging the Ottoman Porte to espouse his cause, or convincing the divan
that it was their interest to send ten or twelve thousand men to the
assistance of his friends, under pretence that the czar was supporting
his ally, Augustus, in Poland, was vain and chimerical.

Sep. 1712.] Nevertheless, he continued still at Bender, to wait the
issue of these vain projects, while the Russians, Danes, and Saxons,
were overrunning Pomerania. Peter took his wife with him on this
expedition. The king of Denmark had already made himself master of
Stade, a sea-port town in the duchy of Bremen, and the united forces of
Russia, Saxony, and Denmark, were already before Stralsund.

Oct. 1712.] And now king Stanislaus, seeing the deplorable state of so
many provinces, the impossibility of his recovering the crown of Poland,
and the universal confusion occasioned by the inflexibility of Charles,
called a meeting of the Swedish generals, who were covering Pomerania
with an army of eleven thousand men, as the last resource they had left
in those provinces.

When they were assembled, he proposed to them to make their terms with
king Augustus, offering himself to be the victim of this reconciliation.
On this occasion, he made the following speech to them, in the French
language, which he afterwards left in writing, and which was signed by
nine general officers, amongst whom happened to be one Patkul,
cousin-german to the unfortunate Patkul, who lost his life on the wheel,
by the order of Charles XII.

'Having been hitherto the instrument of procuring glory to the Swedish
arms, I cannot think of proving the cause of their ruin. I therefore
declare myself ready to sacrifice the crown, and my personal interests,
to the preservation of the sacred person of their king, as I can see no
other method of releasing him from the place where he now is.'

Having made this declaration (which is here given in his own words), he
prepared to set out for Turkey, in hopes of being able to soften the
inflexible temper of his benefactor, by the sacrifice he had made for
him. His ill fortune would have it, that he arrived in Bessarabia at the
very time that Charles, after having given his word to the sultan, that
he would depart from Bender, and having received the necessary
remittances for his journey, and an escort for his person, took the mad
resolution to continue there, and opposed a whole army of Turks and
Tartars, with only his own domestics. The former, though they might
easily have killed him, contented themselves with taking him prisoner.
At this very juncture, Stanislaus arriving, was seized himself; so that
two Christian kings were prisoners at one time in Turkey.

At this time, when all Europe was in commotion, and that France had just
terminated a war equally fatal against one part thereof, in order to
settle the grandson of Lewis XIV. on the throne of Spain, England gave
peace to France, and the victory gained by Marshal Villars at Denain in
Flanders, saved that state from its other enemies. France had been, for
upwards of a century, the ally of Sweden, and it was the interest of the
former, that its ally should not be stript of his possessions in
Germany. Charles, unhappily, was at such a distance from his dominions,
that he did not even know what was transacting in France.

The regency of Stockholm, by a desperate effort, ventured to demand a
sum of money from the French court, at a time when its finances were at
so low an ebb, that Lewis XIV. had hardly money enough to pay his
household servants. Count Sparre was sent with a commission to
negotiate this loan, in which it was not to be supposed he would
succeed. However, on his arrival at Versailles, he represented to the
marquis de Torci the inability of the regency to pay the little army
which Charles had still remaining in Pomerania, and which was ready to
break up and dispute of itself on account of the long arrears due to the
men; and that France was on the point of beholding the only ally she had
left, deprived of those provinces which were so necessary to preserve
the balance of power; that indeed his master, Charles, had not been
altogether so attentive to the interests of France in the course of his
conquests as might have been expected, but that the magnanimity of Lewis
XIV. was at least equal to the misfortunes of his royal brother and
ally. The French minister, in answer to this speech, so effectually set
forth the incapacity of his court to furnish the requested succours,
that count Sparre despaired of success.

It so happened, however, that a private individual did that which Sparre
had lost all hopes of obtaining. There was at that time in Paris, a
banker, named Samuel Bernard, who had accumulated an immense fortune by
making remittances for the government to foreign countries, and other
private contracts. This man was intoxicated with a species of pride very
rarely to be met with from people of his profession. He was immoderately
fond of every thing that made an éclat, and knew very well, that one
time or another the government would repay with interest those who
hazarded their fortune to supply its exigencies. Count Sparre went one
day to dine with him, and took care to flatter his foible so well, that
before they rose from table the banker put six hundred thousand
livres[91] into his hand; and then immediately waiting on the marquis
de Torci, he said to him--'I have lent the crown of Sweden six hundred
thousand livres in your name, which you must repay me when you are
able.'

Count Steinbock, who at that time commanded Charles's army in Pomerania,
little expected so seasonable a supply; and seeing his troops ready to
mutiny, to whom he had nothing to give but promises, and that the storm
was gathering fast upon him, and being, moreover, apprehensive of being
surrounded by the three different armies of Russia, Denmark, and Saxony,
desired a cessation of arms, on the supposition that Stanislaus'
abdication would soften the obstinacy of Charles, and that the only way
left him to save the forces under his command, was by spinning out the
time in negotiations. He therefore dispatched a courier to Bender, to
represent to the king of Sweden the desperate state of his finances and
affairs, and the situation of the army, and to acquaint him that he had
under these circumstances, found himself necessitated to apply for a
cessation of arms, which he should think himself very happy to obtain.
The courier had not been dispatched above three days, and Stanislaus was
not yet set out on his journey to Bender, when Steinbock received the
six hundred thousand livres from the French banker above-mentioned; a
sum, which was at that time an immense treasure in a country so
desolated. Thus unexpectedly reinforced with money, which is the grand
panacea for all disorders of state, Steinbock found means to revive the
drooping spirits of his soldiery; he supplied them with all they wanted,
raised new recruits, and in a short time saw himself at the head of
twelve thousand men, and dropping his former intention of procuring a
suspension of arms, he sought only for an opportunity of engaging the
enemy.

This was the same Steinbock, who in the year 1710, after the defeat of
Pultowa, had revenged the Swedes on the Danes by the eruption he made
into Scania, where he marched against and engaged them with only a few
militia, whom he had hastily gathered together, with their arms slung
round them with ropes, and totally defeated the enemy. He was, like all
the other generals of Charles XII. active and enterprising; but his
valour was sullied by his brutality: as an instance of which, it will be
sufficient to relate, that having, after an engagement with the
Russians, given orders to kill all the prisoners, and perceiving a
Polish officer in the service of the czar, who had caught hold on king
Stanislaus' stirrup, then on horseback, in order to save his life, he,
Steinbock, shot him dead with his pistol in that prince's arms, as has
been already mentioned in the life of Charles XII. and king Stanislaus
has declared to the author of this History, that had he not been
withheld by his respect and gratitude to the king of Sweden, he should
immediately have shot Steinbock dead upon the spot.

Dec. 9, 1712.] General Steinbock now marched by the way of Wismar to
meet the combined forces of the Russians, Danes, and Saxons, and soon
found himself near the Danish and Saxon army, which was advanced before
that of the Russians about the distance of three leagues. The czar sent
three couriers, one after another, to the king of Denmark, beseeching
him to wait his coming up, and thereby avoid the danger which threatened
him, if he attempted to engage the Swedes with an equality of force; but
the Danish monarch, not willing to share with any one the honour of a
victory which he thought sure, advanced to meet the Swedish general,
whom he attacked near a place called Gadebusch. This day's affair gave a
further proof of the natural enmity that subsisted between the Swedes
and Danes. The officers of these two nations fought with most
unparalleled inveteracy against each other, and neither side would
desist till death terminated the dispute.

Steinbock gained a complete victory before the Russian army could come
up to the assistance of the Danes, and the next day received an order
from his master, Charles, to lay aside all thoughts of a suspension of
arms, who, at the same time, upbraided him for having entertained an
idea so injurious to his honour, and for which he told him he could make
no reparation, but by conquering or perishing. Steinbock had happily
obviated the orders and the reproach by the victory he had gained.

But this victory was like that which had formerly brought such a
transient consolation to king Augustus, when in the torrent of his
misfortunes he gained the battle of Calish against the Swedes, who were
conquerors in every other place, and which only served to aggravate his
situation, as this of Gadebusch only procrastinated the ruin of
Steinbock and his army.

When the king of Sweden received the news of Steinbock's success, he
looked upon his affairs as retrieved, and even flattered himself with
hopes to engage the Ottoman Porte to declare for him, who at that time
seemed disposed to come to a new rupture with the czar: full of these
fond imaginations, he sent orders to general Steinbock to fall upon
Poland, being still ready to believe, upon the least shadow of success,
that the day of Narva, and those in which he gave laws to his enemies,
were again returned. But unhappily he too soon found these flattering
hopes utterly blasted by the affair of Bender, and his own captivity
amongst the Turks.

The whole fruits of the victory at Gadebusch were confined to the
surprising in the night-time, and reducing to ashes, the town of Altena,
inhabited by traders and manufacturers, a place wholly defenceless, and
which, not having been in arms, ought, by all the laws of war and
nations, to have been spared; however, it was utterly destroyed, several
of the inhabitants perished in the flames, others escaped with their
lives, but naked, and a number of old men, women, and children, perished
with the cold and fatigue they suffered, at the gates of Hamburg. Such
has too often been the fate of several thousands of men for the quarrels
of two only; and this cruel advantage was the only one gained by
Steinbock; for the Russians, Danes, and Saxons pursued him so closely,
that he was obliged to beg for an asylum in Toningen, a fortress in the
duchy of Holstein, for himself and army.

This duchy was at that time subjected to the most cruel ravages of any
part of the North, and its sovereign was the most miserable of all
princes. He was nephew to Charles XII. and it was on his father's
account, who had married Charles's sister, that that monarch carried his
arms even into the heart of Copenhagen, before the battle of Narva, and
for whom he likewise made the treaty of Travendahl, by which the dukes
of Holstein were restored to their rights.

This country was in part the cradle of the Cimbri, and of the old
Normans, who overrun the province of Neustria, in France, and conquered
all England, Naples, and Sicily; and yet, at this present time, no
state pretends less to make conquests than this part of the ancient
Cimbrica Chersonesus, which consists only of two petty duchies; namely,
that of Sleswic, belonging in common to the king of Denmark and the duke
of Holstein, and that of Gottorp, appertaining to the duke alone.
Sleswic is a sovereign principality; Holstein is a branch of the German
empire, called the Roman empire.

The king of Denmark, and the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, were of the same
family; but the duke, nephew to Charles XII. and presumptive heir to his
crown, was the natural enemy of the king of Denmark, who had endeavoured
to crush him in the very cradle. One of his father's brothers, who was
bishop of Lubec, and administrator of the dominions of his unfortunate
ward, now beheld himself in the midst of the Swedish army, whom he durst
not succour, and those of Russia, Denmark, and Saxony, that threatened
his country with daily destruction. Nevertheless, he thought himself
obliged to try to save Charles's army, if he could do it without
irritating the king of Denmark, who had made himself master of his
country, which he exhausted, by raising continual contributions.

This bishop and administrator was entirely governed by the famous baron
Gortz, the most artful and enterprising man of his age, endowed with a
genius amazingly penetrating, and fruitful in every resource: with
talents equal to the boldest and most arduous attempts; he was as
insinuating in his negotiations as he was hardy in his projects; he had
the art of pleasing and persuading in the highest degree, and knew how
to captivate all hearts by the vivacity of his genius, after he had won
them by the softness of his eloquence. He afterwards gained the same
ascendant over Charles XII. which he had then over the bishop; and all
the world knows, that he paid with his life the honour he had of
governing the most ungovernable and obstinate prince that ever sat upon
a throne.

Gortz had a private conference with general Steinbock,[92] at which he
promised to deliver him up the fortress of Toningen,[93] without
exposing the bishop administrator, his master, to any danger: and, at
the same time, gave the strongest assurances to the king of Denmark,
that he would defend the place to the uttermost. In this manner are
almost all negotiations carried on, affairs of state being of a very
different nature from those of private persons; the honour of ministers
consisting wholly in success, and those of private persons in the
observance of their promises.

General Steinbock presented himself before Toningen: the commandant
refused to open the gates to him, and by this means put it out of the
king of Denmark's power to allege any cause of complaint against the
bishop administrator; but Gortz causes an order to be given in the name
of the young duke, a minor, to suffer the Swedish army to enter the
town. The secretary of the cabinet, named Stamke, signs this order in
the name of the duke of Holstein: by this means Gortz preserves the
honour of an infant who had not as yet any power to issue orders; and he
at once serves the king of Sweden, to whom he was desirous to make his
court, and the bishop administrator his master, who appeared not to have
consented to the admission of the Swedish troops. The governor of
Toningen, who was easily gained, delivered up the town to the Swedes,
and Gortz excused himself as well as he could to the king of Denmark, by
protesting that the whole had been transacted without his consent.

The Swedes retired partly within the walls, and partly under the cannon
of the town: but this did not save them: for general Steinbock was
obliged to surrender himself prisoner of war, together with his whole
army, to the number of eleven thousand men, in the same manner as about
sixteen thousand of their countrymen had done at the battle of Pultowa.

By this convention it was agreed, that Steinbock with his officers and
men might be ransomed or exchanged. The price for the general's ransom
was fixed at eight thousand German crowns;[94] a very trifling sum, but
which Steinbock however was not able to raise; so that he remained a
prisoner in Copenhagen till the day of his death.

The territories of Holstein now remained at the mercy of the incensed
conqueror. The young duke became the object of the king of Denmark's
vengeance, and was fated to pay for the abuse which Gortz had made of
his name: thus did the ill fortune of Charles XII. fall upon all his
family.

Gortz perceiving his projects thus dissipated, and being still resolved
to act a distinguished part in the general confusion of affairs,
recalled to mind a scheme which he had formed to establish a neutrality
in the Swedish territories in Germany.

The king of Denmark was ready to take possession of Toningen; George,
elector of Hanover, was about to seize Bremen and Verden, with the city
of Stade; the new-made king of Prussia, Frederick William, cast his
views upon Stetin, and czar Peter was preparing to make himself master
of Finland; and all the territories of Charles XII. those of Sweden
excepted, were going to become the spoils of those who wanted to share
them. How then could so many different interests be rendered compatible
with a neutrality? Gortz entered into negotiation at one and the same
time with all the several princes who had any views in this partition;
he continued night and day passing from one province to the other; he
engaged the governor of Bremen and Verden to put those two duchies into
the hands of the elector of Hanover by way of sequestration, so that the
Danes should not take possession of them for themselves: he prevailed
with the king of Prussia to accept jointly with the duke of Holstein, of
the sequestration of Stetin and Wismar, in consideration of which, the
king of Denmark was to act nothing against Holstein, and was not to
enter Toningen. It was most certainly a strange way of serving Charles
XII. to put his towns into the hands of those who might choose if they
would ever restore them; but Gortz, by delivering these places to them
as pledges, bound them to a neutrality, at least for some time; and he
was in hopes to be able afterwards to bring Hanover and Brandenburg to
declare for Sweden: he prevailed on the king of Prussia whose ruined
dominions stood in need of peace, to enter into his views, and in short
he found means to render himself necessary to all these princes, and
disposed of the possessions of Charles XII. like a guardian, who gives
up one part of his ward's estate to preserve the other, and of a ward
incapable of managing his affairs himself; and all this without any
regular authority or commission, or other warrant for his conduct, than
full powers given him by the bishop of Lubec, who had no authority to
grant such powers from Charles himself.

Such was the baron de Gortz, and such his actions, which have not
hitherto been sufficiently known. There have been instances of an
Oxenstiern, a Richlieu, and an Alberoni, influencing the affairs of all
parts of Europe; but that the privy counsellor of a bishop of Lubec
should do the same as they, without his conduct being avowed by any one,
is a thing hitherto unheard of.

June, 1713.] Nevertheless he succeeded to his wishes in the beginning;
for he made a treaty with the king of Prussia, by which that monarch
engaged, on condition of keeping Stetin in sequestration, to preserve
the rest of Pomerania for Charles XII. In virtue of this treaty, Gortz
made a proposal to the governor of Pomerania, Meyerfeld, to give up the
fortress of Stetin to the king of Prussia for the sake of peace,
thinking that the Swedish governor of Stetin would prove as easy to be
persuaded as the Holsteiner who had the command of Toningen; but the
officers of Charles XII. were not accustomed to obey such orders.
Meyerfeld made answer, that no one should enter Stetin but over his dead
body and the ruins of the place, and immediately sent notice to his
master of the strange proposal. The messenger at his arrival found
Charles prisoner at Demirtash, in consequence of his adventure at
Bender, and it was doubtful, at that time, whether he would not remain
all his life in confinement in Turkey, or else be banished to some of
the islands in the Archipelago, or some part of Asia under the dominion
of the Ottoman Porte. However Charles from his prison sent the same
orders to Meyerfeld, as he had before done to Steinbock; namely, rather
to perish than to submit to his enemies, and even commanded him to take
his inflexibility for his example.

Gortz, finding that the governor of Stetin had broke in upon his
measures, and would neither hearken to a neutrality nor a sequestration,
took it into his head, not only to sequester the town of Stetin of his
own authority, but also the city of Stralsund, and found means to make
the same kind of treaty (June, 1713,) with the king of Poland, elector
of Saxony, for that place, which he had done with the elector of
Brandenburg for Stetin. He clearly saw how impossible it would be for
the Swedes to keep possession of those places without either men or
money, while their king was a captive in Turkey, and he thought himself
sure of turning aside the scourge of war from the North by means of
these sequestrations. The king of Denmark himself at length gave into
the projects of Gortz: the latter had gained an entire ascendant over
prince Menzikoff, the czar's general and favourite, whom he had
persuaded that the duchy of Holstein must be ceded to his master, and
flattered the czar with the prospect of opening a canal from Holstein
into the Baltic Sea; an enterprise perfectly conformable to the
inclination and views of this royal founder: and, above all, he laboured
to insinuate to him, that he might obtain a new increase of power, by
condescending to become one of the powers of the empire, which would
entitle him to a vote in the diet of Ratisbon, a right that he might
afterwards for ever maintain by that of arms.

In a word, no one could put on more different appearances, adapt himself
to more opposite interests, or act a more complicated part, than did
this skilful negotiator; he even went so far as to engage prince
Menzikoff to ruin the very town of Stetin, which he was endeavouring to
save; and in which, at length, to his misfortune, he succeeded but too
well.

When the king of Prussia saw a Russian army before Stetin, he found that
place would be lost to him, and remain in the possession of the czar.
This was just what Gortz expected and waited for. Prince Menzikoff was
in want of money; Gortz got the king of Prussia to lend him four hundred
thousand crowns: he afterwards sent a message to the governor of the
place, to know of him--whether he would rather choose to see Stetin in
ashes, and under the dominion of Russia, or to trust it in the hands of
the king of Prussia, who would engage to restore it to the king, his
master?--The commandant at length suffered himself to be persuaded, and
gave up the place, which Menzikoff entered; and, in consideration of the
four hundred thousand crowns, delivered it afterwards, together with all
the territories thereto adjoining, into the hands of the king of
Prussia, who, for form's sake, left therein two battalions of the troops
of Holstein, and has never since restored that part of Pomerania.

From this period, the second king of Prussia, successor to a weak and
prodigal father, laid the foundation of that greatness, to which his
state has since arrived by military discipline and economy.

The baron de Gortz, who put so many springs in motion, could not,
however, succeed in prevailing on the Danes to spare the duchy of
Holstein, or forbear taking possession of Toningen. He failed in what
appeared to have been his first object, though he succeeded in all his
other views, and particularly in that of making himself the most
important personage of the North, which, indeed, was his principal
object.

The elector of Hanover then had secured to himself Bremen and Verden, of
which Charles XII. was now stripped. The Saxon army was before Wismar
(Sept. 1715); Stetin was in the hands of the king of Prussia; the
Russians were ready to lay siege to Stralsund, in conjunction with the
Saxons; and these latter had already landed in the island of Rugen, and
the czar, in the midst of the numberless negotiations on all sides,
while others were disputing about neutralities and partitions, makes a
descent upon Finland. After having himself pointed the artillery against
Stralsund, he left the rest to the care of his allies and prince
Menzikoff, and, embarking in the month of May, on the Baltic Sea, on
board a ship of fifty guns, which he himself caused to be built at
Petersburg, he sailed for the coast of Finland, followed by a fleet of
ninety-two whole, and one hundred and ten half-gallies, having on board
near sixteen thousand troops. He made his descent at Elsingford, (May
22. N. S. 1713.) the most southern part of that cold and barren country,
lying in 61 degrees north latitude; and, notwithstanding the numberless
difficulties he had to encounter, succeeded in his design. He caused a
feint attack to be made on one side of the harbour, while he landed his
troops on the other, and took possession of the town. He then made
himself master of Abo, Borgo, and the whole coast. The Swedes now seemed
not to have one resource left; for it was at this very time, that their
army, under the command of general Steinbock, was obliged to surrender
prisoners of war at Toningen.

These repeated disasters which befel Charles, were, as we have already
shewn, followed by the loss of Bremen, Verden, Stetin, and a part of
Pomerania; and that prince himself, with his ally and friend,
Stanislaus, were afterwards both prisoners in Turkey: nevertheless, he
was not to be undeceived in the flattering notion he had entertained of
returning to Poland, at the head of an Ottoman army, replacing
Stanislaus on the throne, and once again making his enemies tremble.




CHAP. XXIV.

    Successes of Peter the Great.--Return of Charles XII. into his own
    dominions.


[Sidenote: 1713.]

Peter, while he was following the course of his conquests, completed the
establishment of his navy, brought twelve thousand families to settle in
Petersburg, kept all his allies firm to his person and fortunes, not
withstanding they had all different interests and opposite views; and
with his fleet kept in awe all the sea-ports of Sweden, on the gulfs of
Finland and Bothnia.

Prince Galitzin, one of his land-generals, whom he had formed himself,
as he had done all his other officers, advanced from Elsingford, where
the czar had made his descent, into the midst of the country, near the
village of Tavasthus, which was a post that commanded the gulf of
Bothnia, and was defended by a few Swedish regiments, and about eight
thousand militia. In this situation, a battle was unavoidable, (Mar. 13,
1714.) the event of which proved favourable to the Russians, who
entirely routed the whole Swedish army, and penetrated as far as Vaza,
so that they were now masters of about eighty leagues of country.

The Swedes were still in possession of a fleet, with which they kept the
sea. Peter had, for a considerable time, waited with impatience for an
opportunity of establishing the reputation of his new marine.
Accordingly he set out from Petersburg, and having got together a fleet
of sixteen ships of the line, and one hundred and eighty galleys, fit
for working among the rocks and shoals that surround the island of
Aland, and the other islands in the Baltic Sea, bordering upon the
Swedish coast, he fell in with the fleet of that nation near their own
shores. This armament greatly exceeded his in the largeness of the
ships, but was inferior in the number of galleys, and more proper for
engaging in the open sea, than among rocks, or near the shore. The
advantage the czar had in this respect was entirely owing to himself: he
served in the rank of rear-admiral on board his own fleet, and received
all the necessary orders from admiral Apraxin. Peter resolved to make
himself master of the island of Aland, which lies only twelve leagues
off the Swedish coast; and, though obliged to pass full in view of the
enemy's fleet, he effected this bold and hazardous enterprise. His
galleys forced a passage through the enemy, whose cannon did not fire
low enough to hurt them, and entered Aland; but as that coast is almost
surrounded with rocks, the czar caused eighty small galleys to be
transported by men over a point of land, and launched into the sea, at a
place called Hango, where his large ships were at anchor. Erenschild,
the Swedish rear-admiral, thinking that he might easily take or sink all
these galleys, stood in shore, in order to reconnoitre their situation,
but was received with so brisk a fire from the Russian fleet, that most
of his men were killed or wounded; and all the galleys and praams he had
brought with him were taken, together with his own ship. (Aug. 8.) The
admiral himself endeavoured to escape in a boat, but being wounded, was
obliged to surrender himself prisoner, and was brought on board the
galley where the czar was, navigating it himself. The scattered remains
of the Swedish fleet made the best of their way home; and the news of
this accident threw all Stockholm into confusion, which now began to
tremble for its own safety.

Much about the same time, colonel Scouvalow Neuschlof attacked the only
remaining fortress on the western side of Finland, and made himself
master of it, after a most obstinate resistance on the part of the
besieged.

This affair of Aland was, next to that of Pultowa, the most glorious
that had ever befallen the arms of Peter the Great, who now saw himself
master of Finland, the government of which he committed to prince
Galitzin, and returned to Petersburg (Sept. 15.), victorious over the
whole naval force of Sweden, and more than ever respected by his allies;
the stormy season now approaching, not permitting him to remain longer
with his ships in the Finlandish and Bothnic seas. His good fortune also
brought him back to his capital, just as the czarina was brought to bed
of a princess, who died, however, about a year afterwards. He then
instituted the order of St. Catherine, in honour of his consort,[95] and
celebrated the birth of his daughter by a triumphal entry, which was of
all the festivals to which he had accustomed his subjects, that which
they held in the greatest esteem. This ceremony was ushered in by
bringing nine Swedish galleys, and seven praams filled with prisoners,
and rear-admiral Erenschild's own ship, into the harbour of Cronstadt.

The cannon, colours, and standards, taken in the expedition to Finland,
and which had come home in the Russian admiral's ship, were brought on
this occasion to Petersburg, and entered that metropolis in order of
battle. A triumphal arch, which the czar had caused to be erected, and
which, as usual, was made from a model of his own, was decorated with
the insignia of his conquests. Under this arch the victors marched in
procession, with admiral Apraxin, at their head; then followed the czar
in quality of rear-admiral, and the other officers according to their
several ranks. They were all presented one after another to the
vice-admiral Rodamonoski, who, at this ceremony represented the
sovereign. This temporary vice-emperor distributed gold medals amongst
all the officers, and others of silver to the soldiers and sailors. The
Swedish prisoners likewise passed under the triumphal arch, and admiral
Erenschild followed immediately after the czar, his conqueror. When they
came to the place where the vice-czar was seated on his throne, admiral
Apraxin presented to him rear-admiral Peter, who demanded to be made
vice-admiral, in reward for his services. It was then put to the vote,
if his request should be granted; and it may easily be conceived that he
had the majority on his side.

After this ceremony was over, which filled every heart with joy, and
inspired every mind with emulation, with a love for his country, and a
thirst of fame, the czar made the following speech to those present: a
speech which deserves to be transmitted to the latest posterity.

'Countrymen and friends! what man is there among you, who could have
thought, twenty years ago, that we should one day fight together on the
Baltic Sea, in ships built by our own hands; and that we should
establish settlements in countries conquered by our own labours and
valour?--Greece is said to have been the ancient seat of the arts and
sciences: they afterwards took up their abode in Italy, from whence they
spread themselves through every part of Europe. It is now our turn to
call them ours, if you will second my designs, by joining study to
obedience. The arts circulate in this globe, as the blood does in the
human body; and perhaps they may establish their empire amongst us, on
their return back to Greece, their mother country; and I even venture to
hope, that we may one day put the most civilized nations to the blush,
by our noble labours and the solid glory resulting therefrom.'

Here is the true substance of this speech, so every way worthy of a
great founder, and which has lost its chief beauties in this, and every
other translation; but the principal merit of this eloquent harangue is,
its having been spoken by a victorious monarch, at once the founder and
lawgiver of his empire.

The old boyards listened to this speech with greater regret for the
abolition of their ancient customs, than admiration of their master's
glory; but the young ones could not hear him without tears of joy.

The splendour of these times were further heightened by the return of
the Russian ambassadors from Constantinople, (Sept. 15, 1714.) with a
confirmation of the peace with the Turks: an ambassador sent by Sha
Hussein from Persia, had arrived some time before with a present to the
czar of an elephant and five lions. He received, at the same time, an
ambassador from Mahomet Babadir, khan of the Usbeck Tartars, requesting
his protection against another tribe of Tartars; so that both
extremities of Asia and Europe seemed to join to offer him homage, and
add to his glory.

The regency of Stockholm, driven to despair by the desperate situation
of their affairs, and the absence of their sovereign, who seemed to have
abandoned his dominions, had come to a resolution no more to consult him
in relation to their proceedings; and, immediately after the victory the
czar gained over their navy, they sent to the conqueror to demand a
passport, for an officer charged with proposals of peace. The passport
was sent; but, just as the person appointed to carry on the negotiation
was on the point of setting out, the princess Ulrica Eleonora, sister to
Charles XII. received advice from the king her brother, that he was
preparing, at length, to quit Turkey, and return home to fight his own
battles. Upon this news the regency did not dare to send the negotiator
(whom they had already privately named) to the czar; and, therefore,
resolved to support their ill-fortune till the arrival of Charles to
retrieve it.

In effect, Charles, after a stay of five years and some months in
Turkey, set out from that kingdom in the latter end of October, 1714.
Every one knows that he observed the same singularity in his journey,
which characterized all the actions of his life. He arrived at Stralsund
the 22d of November following. As soon as he got there, baron de Gortz
came to pay his court to him; and, though he had been the instrument of
one part of his misfortunes, yet he justified his conduct with so much
art, and filled the imagination of Charles with such flattering hopes,
that he gained his confidence, as he had already done that of
every other minister and prince with whom he had entered into any
negotiations. In short, he made him believe, that means might be found
to draw off the czar's allies, and thereby procure an honourable peace,
or at least to carry on the war upon an equal footing; and from this
time Gortz gained a greater ascendancy over the mind of the king of
Sweden than ever count Piper had.

The first thing which Charles did after his arrival at Stralsund was to
demand a supply of money from the citizens of Stockholm, who readily
parted with what little they had left, as not being able to refuse any
thing to a king, who asked only to bestow, who lived as hard as the
meanest soldier, and exposed his life equally in defence of his country.
His misfortunes, his captivity, his return to his dominions, so long
deprived of his presence, were arguments which prepossessed alike his
own subjects and foreigners in his favour, who could not forbear at once
to blame and admire, to compassionate and to assist him. His reputation
was of a kind totally differing from that of Peter the Great: it
consisted not in cherishing the arts and sciences, in enacting laws, in
establishing a form of government, nor in introducing commerce among his
subjects; it was confined entirely to his own person. He placed his
chief merit in a valour superior to what is commonly called courage. He
defended his dominions with a greatness of soul equal to that valour,
and aimed only to inspire other nations with awe and respect for him:
hence he had more partizans than allies.




CHAP. XXV.

    State of Europe at the return of Charles XII. Siege of Stralsund.


When Charles XII. returned to his dominions in the year 1714, he found
the state of affairs in Europe very different from that in which he had
left them. Queen Anne of England was dead, after having made peace with
France. Lewis XIV. had secured the monarchy of Spain for his grandson
the duke of Anjou, and had obliged the emperor Charles VI. and the Dutch
to agree to a peace, which their situation rendered necessary to them;
so that the affairs of Europe had put on altogether a new face.

Those of the north had undergone a still greater change. Peter was
become sole arbiter in that part of the world: the elector of Hanover,
who had been called to fill the British throne, had views of extending
his territories in Germany, at the expense of Sweden, who had never had
any possessions in that country, but since the reign of the great
Gustavus. The king of Denmark aimed at recovering Scania, the best
province of Sweden, which had formerly belonged to the Danes. The king
of Prussia, as heir to the dukes of Pomerania, laid claim to a part of
that province. On the other hand, the Holstein family, oppressed by the
king of Denmark, and the duke of Mecklenburg, almost at open war with
his subjects, were suing to Peter the Great to take them under his
protection. The king of Poland, elector of Saxony, was desirous to have
the duchy of Courland annexed to Poland; so that, from the Elbe to the
Baltic Sea, Peter the First was considered as the support of the several
crowned heads, as Charles XII. had been their greatest terror.

Many negotiations were set on foot after the return of Charles to his
dominions, but nothing had been done. That prince thought he could raise
a sufficient number of ships of war and privateers, to put a stop to the
rising power of the czar by sea; with respect to the land war, he
depended upon his own valour; and Gortz, who was on a sudden become his
prime minister, persuaded him, that he might find means to defray the
expense, by coining copper money, to be taken at ninety-six times less
than its real value, a thing unparalleled in the histories of any state;
but in the month of April, 1715, the first Swedish privateers that put
to sea were taken by the czar's men of war, and a Russian army marched
into the heart of Pomerania.

The Prussians, Danes, and Saxons, now sat down with their united forces
before Stralsund, and Charles XII. beheld himself returned from his
confinement at Demirtash and Demirtoca on the Black Sea, only to be more
closely pent up on the borders of the Baltic.

We have already shewn, in the history of this extraordinary man, with
what haughty and unembarrassed resolution he braved the united forces of
his enemies in Stralsund; and shall therefore, in this place, only add a
single circumstance, which, though trivial, may serve to shew the
peculiarity of his character. The greatest part of his officers having
been either killed or wounded during the siege, the duty fell hard upon
the few who were left. Baron de Reichel, a colonel, having sustained a
long engagement upon the ramparts, and being tired out by repeated
watchings and fatigues, had thrown himself upon a bench to take a little
repose; when he was called up to mount guard again upon the ramparts. As
he was dragging himself along, hardly able to stand, and cursing the
obstinacy of the king his master, who subjected all those about him to
such insufferable and fruitless fatigues, Charles happened to overhear
him. Upon which, stripping off his own cloak, he spread it on the ground
before him, saying, 'My dear Reichel, you are quite spent; come, I have
had an hour's sleep, which has refreshed me, I'll take the guard for
you, while you finish your nap, and will wake you when I think it is
time;' and so saying, he wrapt the colonel up in his cloak; and,
notwithstanding all his resistance, obliged him to lie down to sleep,
and mounted the guard himself.

It was during this siege that the elector of Hanover, lately made king
of England, purchased of the king of Denmark the province of Bremen and
Verden, with the city of Stade, (Oct. 1715.) which the Danes had taken
from Charles XII. This purchase cost king George eight hundred thousand
German crowns. In this manner were the dominions of Charles bartered
away, while he defended the city of Stralsund, inch by inch, till at
length nothing was left of it but a heap of ruins, which his officers
compelled him to leave; (Dec. 1713.) and, when he was in a place of
safety, general Ducker delivered up those ruins to the king of Prussia.

Some time afterwards, Ducker, being presented to Charles, that monarch
reproached him with having capitulated with his enemies; when Ducker
replied, 'I had too great a regard for your majesty's honour, to
continue to defend a place which you was obliged to leave.' However the
Prussians continued in possession of it no longer than the year 1721,
when they gave it up at the general peace.

During the siege of Stralsund, Charles received another mortification,
which would have been still more severe, if his heart had been as
sensible to the emotions of friendship, as it was to those of fame and
honour. His prime minister, count Piper, a man famous throughout all
Europe, and of unshaken fidelity to his prince (notwithstanding the
assertions of certain rash persons, or the authority of a mistaken
writer): this Piper, I say, had been the victim of his master's ambition
ever since the battle of Pultowa. As there was as that time no cartel
for the exchange of prisoners subsisting between the Russians and
Swedes, he had remained in confinement at Moscow; and though he had not
been sent into Siberia, as the other prisoners were, yet his situation
was greatly to be pitied. The czar's finances at that time were not
managed with so much fidelity as they ought to be, and his many new
establishments required an expense which he could with difficulty
answer. In particular, he owed a considerable sum of money to the Dutch,
on account of two of their merchant-ships which had been burnt on the
coast of Finland, in the descent the czar had made on that country.
Peter pretended that the Swedes were to make good the damage, and wanted
to engage count Piper to charge himself with this debt: accordingly he
was sent for from Moscow to Petersburg, and his liberty was offered him,
in case he could draw upon Sweden letters of exchange to the amount of
sixty thousand crowns. It is said he actually did draw bills for this
sum upon his wife at Stockholm, but that she being unable or unwilling
to take them up, they were returned, and the king of Sweden never gave
himself the least concern about paying the money. Be this as it may,
count Piper was closely confined in the castle of Schlusselburg, where
he died the year after, at the age of seventy. His remains were sent to
the king of Sweden, who gave them a magnificent burial; a vain and
melancholy return to an old servant, for a life of suffering, and so
deplorable an end!

Peter was satisfied with having got possession of Livonia, Esthonia,
Carelia, and Ingria, which he looked upon as his own provinces, and to
which he had, moreover, added almost all Finland, which served as a kind
of pledge, in case his enemies should conclude a peace. He had married
one of his nieces to Charles Leopold, duke of Mecklenburg, in the month
of April of the same year, (1715.) so that all the sovereigns of the
north were now either his allies or his creatures. In Poland, he kept
the enemies of king Augustus in awe; one of his armies, consisting of
about eight thousand men, having, without any loss, quelled several of
those confederacies, which are so frequent in that country of liberty
and anarchy: on the other hand, the Turks, by strictly observing their
treaties, left him at full liberty to exert his power, and execute his
schemes in their utmost extent.

In this flourishing situation of his affairs, scarcely a day passed
without being distinguished by new establishments, either in the navy,
the army, or the legislature: he himself composed a military code for
the infantry.

Nov. 8.] He likewise founded a naval academy at Petersburg; dispatched
Lange to China and Siberia, with a commission of trade; set
mathematicians to work, in drawing charts of the whole empire; built a
summer's palace at Petershoff; and at the same time built forts on the
banks of the Irtish, stopped the incursions and ravages of the
Bukari[96] on the one side, and, on the other, suppressed the Tartars of
Kouban.

1715.] His prosperity seemed now to be at its zenith, by the empress
Catherine's being delivered of a son, and an heir to his dominions being
given him, in a prince born to the czarowitz Alexis; but the joy for
these happy events, which fell out within a few days of each other, was
soon damped by the death of the empress's son; and the sequel of this
history will shew us, that the fate of the czarowitz was too
unfortunate, for the birth of a son to this prince to be looked upon as
a happiness.

The delivery of the czarina put a stop for some time to her
accompanying, as usual, her royal consort in all his expeditions by sea
and land; but, as soon as she was up again, she followed him to new
adventures.




CHAP. XXVI.

    New travels of the czar.


Wismar was at this time besieged by the czar's allies. This town, which
belonged of right to the duke of Mecklenburg, is situated on the Baltic,
about seven leagues distant from Lubec, and might have rivalled that
city in its extensive trade, being once one of the most considerable of
the Hans Towns, and the duke of Mecklenburg exercised therein a full
power of protection, rather than of sovereignty. This was one of the
German territories yet remaining to the Swedes, in virtue of the peace
of Westphalia: but it was now obliged to share the same fate with
Stralsund. The allies of the czar pushed the siege with the greatest
vigour, in order to make themselves masters of it before that prince's
troops should arrive; but Peter himself coming before the place in
person, after the capitulation, (Feb. 1716,) which had been made without
his privacy, made the garrison prisoners of war. He was not a little
incensed, that his allies should have left the king of Denmark in
possession of a town which was the right of a prince, who had married
his niece; and his resentment on this occasion (which that artful
minister, de Gortz, soon after turned to his own advantage) laid the
first foundation of the peace, which he meditated to bring about between
the czar and Charles XII.

Gortz took the first opportunity to insinuate to the czar, that Sweden
was sufficiently humbled, and that he should be careful not to suffer
Denmark and Prussia to become too powerful. The czar joined in opinion
with him, and as he had entered into the war, merely from motives of
policy, whilst Charles carried it on wholly on the principles of a
warrior; he, from that instant, slackened in his operations against the
Swedes, and Charles, every where unfortunate in Germany, determined to
risk one of those desperate strokes which success only can justify, and
carried the war into Norway.

In the meantime, Peter was desirous to make a second tour through
Europe. He had undertaken his first, as a person who travelled for
instruction in the arts and sciences: but this second he made as a
prince, who wanted to dive into the secrets of the several courts. He
took the czarina with him to Copenhagen, Lubec, Schwerin, and Nystadt.
He had an interview with the king of Prussia at the little town of
Aversburg, from thence he and the empress went to Hamburg, and to
Altena, which had been burned by the Swedes, and which they caused to be
rebuilt. Descending the Elbe as far as Stade, they passed through
Bremen, where the magistrates prepared a firework and illuminations for
them, which formed, in a hundred different places, these words--'Our
deliverer is come amongst us.' At length he arrived once more at
Amsterdam, (Dec. 17, 1716,) and visited the little hut at Saardam, where
he had first learned the art of ship-building, about eighteen years
before, and found his old dwelling converted into a handsome and
commodious house, which is still to be seen, and goes by the name of the
Prince's House.

It may easily be conceived, with what a kind of idolatry he was received
by a trading and seafaring set of people, whose companion he had
heretofore been, and who thought they saw in the conqueror of Pultowa, a
pupil who had learned from them to gain naval victories; and had, after
their example, established trade and navigation in his own dominions. In
a word, they looked upon him as a fellow-citizen, who had been raised to
the imperial dignity.

The life, the travels, the actions of Peter the Great, as well as of his
rival, Charles of Sweden, exhibit a surprising contrast to the manners
which prevail amongst us, and which are, perhaps, rather too delicate;
and this may be one reason, that the history of these two famous men so
much excites our curiosity.

The czarina had been left behind at Schwerin indisposed, being greatly
advanced in her pregnancy; nevertheless, as soon as she was able to
travel, she set out to join the czar in Holland, but was taken in labour
at Wesel, and there delivered of a prince, (Jan. 14, 1717,) who lived
but one day. It is not customary with us for a lying-in-woman to stir
abroad for some time; but the czarina set out, and arrived at Amsterdam
in ten days after her labour. She was very desirous to see the little
cabin her husband had lived and worked in. Accordingly, she and the czar
went together, without any state or attendance, excepting only two
servants, and dined at the house of a rich ship-builder of Saardam,
whose name was Kalf, and who was one of the first who had traded to
Petersburg. His son had lately arrived from France, whither Peter was
going. The czar and czarina took great pleasure in hearing an adventure
of this young man, which I should not mention here, only as it may serve
to shew the great difference between the manners of that country and
ours.

Old Kalf, who had sent this son of his to Paris, to learn the French
tongue, was desirous that he should live in a genteel manner during his
stay there; and accordingly had ordered him to lay aside the plain garb
which the inhabitants of Saardam are in general accustomed to wear, and
to provide himself with fashionable clothes at Paris, and to live, in a
manner, rather suitable to his fortune than his education; being
sufficiently well acquainted with his son's disposition to know, that
this indulgence would have no bad effect on his natural frugality and
sobriety.

As a calf is in the French language called veau, our young traveller,
when he arrived at Paris, took the name of De Veau. He lived in a
splendid manner, spent his money freely, and made several genteel
connexions. Nothing is more common at Paris, than to bestow, without
reserve, the title of count and marquis, whether a person has any claim
to it or not, or even if he is barely a gentleman. This absurd practice
has been allowed by the government, in order that, by thus confounding
all ranks, and consequently humbling the nobility, there might be less
danger of civil wars, which, in former times, were so frequent and
destructive to the peace of the state. In a word, the title of marquis
and count, with possessions equivalent to that dignity, are like those
of knight, without being of any order; or abbé, without any church
preferment; of no consequence, and not looked upon by the sensible part
of the nation.

Young Mr. Kalf was always called the count de Veau by his acquaintance
and his own servants: he frequently made one in the parties of the
princesses; he played at the duchess of Berri's, and few strangers were
treated with greater marks of distinction, or had more general
invitations among polite company. A young nobleman, who had been always
one of his companions in these parties, promised to pay him a visit at
Saardam, and was as good as his word: when he arrived at the village, he
inquired for the house of count Kalf; when, being shewn into a
carpenter's work-shop, he there saw his former gay companion, the young
count, dressed in a jacket and trowsers, after the Dutch fashion, with
an axe in his hand, at the head of his father's workmen. Here he was
received by his friend, in that plain manner to which he had been
accustomed from his birth, and from which he never deviated. The
sensible reader will forgive this little digression, as it is a satire
on vanity, and a panegyric on true manners.

The czar continued three months in Holland, during which he passed his
time in matters of a more serious nature than the adventure just
related. Since the treaties of Nimeguen, Ryswic, and Utrecht, the Hague
had preserved the reputation of being the centre of negotiations in
Europe. This little city, or rather village, the most pleasant of any in
the North, is chiefly inhabited by foreign ministers, and by travellers,
who come for instruction to this great school. They were, at that time,
laying the foundation of a great revolution in Europe. The czar, having
gotten intelligence of the approaching storm, prolonged his stay in the
Low Countries, that he might be nearer at hand, to observe the
machinations going forward, both in the North and South, and prepare
himself for the part which it might be necessary for him to act therein.




CHAP. XXVII.

    Continuation of the Travels of Peter the Great.--Conspiracy of baron
    Gortz.--Reception of the czar in France.


He plainly saw that his allies were jealous of his power, and found that
there is often more trouble with friends than with enemies.

Mecklenburg was one of the principal subjects of those divisions, which
almost always subsist between neighbouring princes, who share in
conquests. Peter was not willing that the Danes should take possession
of Wismar for themselves, and still less that they should demolish the
fortifications, and yet they did both the one and the other.

He openly protected the duke of Mecklenburg, who had married his niece,
and whom he regarded like a son-in-law, against the nobility of the
country, and the king of England as openly protected these latter. On
the other hand, he was greatly discontented with the king of Poland, or
rather with his minister, count Flemming, who wanted to throw off that
dependance on the czar, which necessity and gratitude had imposed.

The courts of England, Poland, Denmark, Holstein, Mecklenburg, and
Brandenburg, were severally agitated with intrigues and cabals.

Towards the end of the year 1716, and beginning of 1717, Gortz, who, as
Bassewitz tells us in his Memoirs, was weary of having only the title of
counsellor of Holstein, and being only private plenipotentiary to
Charles XII. was the chief promoter of these intrigues, with which he
intended to disturb the peace of all Europe. His design was to bring
Charles XII. and the czar together, not only with a view to finish the
war between them, but to unite them in friendship, to replace Stanislaus
on the crown of Poland, and to wrest Bremen and Verden out of the hands
of George I., king of England, and even to drive that prince from the
English throne, in order to put it out of his power to appropriate to
himself any part of the spoils of Charles XII.

There was at the same time a minister of his own character, who had
formed a design to overturn the two kingdoms of England and France: this
was cardinal Alberoni, who had more power at that time in Spain, than
Gortz had in Sweden, and was of as bold and enterprising a spirit as
himself, but much more powerful, as being at the head of affairs in a
kingdom infinitely more rich, and never paid his creatures and
dependants in copper money.

Gortz, from the borders of the Baltic Sea, soon formed a connexion with
Alberoni in Spain. The cardinal and he both held a correspondence with
all the wandering English who were in the interest of the house of
Stuart. Gortz made visits to every place where he thought he was likely
to find any enemies of king George, and went successively to Germany,
Holland, Flanders, and Lorrain, and at length came to Paris, about the
end of the year 1716. Cardinal Alberoni began, by remitting to him in
Paris a million of French livres, in order (to use the cardinal's
expression) to set fire to the train.

Gortz proposed, that Charles XII. should yield up several places to the
czar, in order to be in a condition to recover all the others from his
enemies, and that he might be at liberty to make a descent in Scotland,
while the partisans of the Stuart family should make an effectual rising
in England: after their former vain attempts to effect these views, it
was necessary to deprive the king of England of his chief support, which
at that time was the regent of France. It was certainly very
extraordinary, to see France in league with England, against the
grandson of Lewis XIV., whom she herself had placed on the throne of
Spain, at the expence of her blood and treasure, notwithstanding the
strong confederacy formed to oppose him; but it must be considered, that
every thing was now out of its natural order, and the interests of the
regent not those of the kingdom. Alberoni, at that time, was carrying on
a confederacy in France against this very regent.[97] And the
foundations of this grand project were laid almost as soon as the plan
itself had been formed. Gortz was the first who was let into the secret,
and was to have made a journey into Italy in disguise, to hold a
conference with the pretender, in the neighbourhood of Rome; from
thence he was to have hastened to the Hague, to have an interview with
the czar, and then to have settled every thing with the king of Sweden.

The author of this History is particularly well informed of every
circumstance here advanced, for baron Gortz proposed to him to accompany
him in these journies; and, notwithstanding he was very young at that
time, he was one of the first witnesses to a great part of these
intrigues.

Gortz returned from Holland in the latter part of 1716, furnished with
bills of exchange from cardinal Alberoni, and letters plenipotentiary
from Charles XII. It is incontestable that the Jacobite party were to
have made a rising in England, while Charles, in his return from Norway,
was to make a descent in the north of Scotland. This prince, who had not
been able to preserve his own dominions on the continent, was now going
to invade and overrun those of his neighbours, and just escaped from his
prison in Turkey, and from amidst the ruins of his own city of
Stralsund, Europe might have beheld him placing the crown of Great
Britain on the head of James III. in London, as he had before done that
of Poland on Stanislaus at Warsaw.

The czar, who was acquainted with a part of Gortz's projects, waited for
the unfolding of the rest, without entering into any of his plans, or
indeed knowing them all. He was as fond of great and extraordinary
enterprises as Charles XII., Gortz, or Alberoni; but then it was as the
founder of a state, a lawgiver, and a sound politician; and perhaps
Alberoni, Gortz, and even Charles himself, were rather men of restless
souls, who sought after great adventures, than persons of solid
understanding, who took their measures with a just precaution; or
perhaps, after all, their ill successes may have subjected them to the
charge of rashness and imprudence.

During Gortz's stay at the Hague, the czar did not see him, as it would
have given too much umbrage to his friends the states-general, who were
in close alliance with, and attached to, the party of the king of
England; and even his ministers visited him only in private, and with
great precaution, having orders from their master to hear all he had to
offer, and to flatter him with hopes, without entering into any
engagement, or making use of his (the czar's) name in their conferences.
But, notwithstanding all these precautions, those who understood the
nature of affairs, plainly saw by his inactivity, when he might have
made a descent upon Scania with the joint fleets of Russia and Denmark,
by his visible coolness towards his allies, and the little regard he
paid to their complaints, and lastly, by this journey of his, that there
was a great change in affairs, which would very soon manifest itself.

In the month of January, 1717, a Swedish packet-boat, which was carrying
letters over to Holland, being forced by a storm upon the coast of
Norway, put into harbour there. The letters were seized, and those of
baron de Gortz and some other public ministers being opened, furnished
sufficient evidence of the projected revolution. The court of Denmark
communicated these letters to the English ministry, who gave orders for
arresting the Swedish minister, Gillembourg, then at the court of
London, and seizing his papers; upon examining which they discovered
part of his correspondence with the Jacobites.

Feb. 1717.] King George immediately wrote to the states-general,
requiring them to cause the person of baron Gortz to be arrested,
agreeable to the treaty of union subsisting between England and that
republic for their mutual security. But this minister, who had his
creatures and emissaries in every part, was quickly informed of this
order; upon which he instantly quitted the Hague, and was got as far as
Arnheim, a town on the frontiers, when the officers and guards, who were
in pursuit of him, and who are seldom accustomed to use such diligence
in that country, came up with and took him, together with all his
papers: he was strictly confined and severely treated; the secretary
Stank, the person who had counterfeited the sign manual of the young
duke of Holstein, in the affair of Toningen, experienced still harsher
usage. In fine, the count of Gillembourg, the Swedish envoy to the court
of Great Britain, and the baron de Gortz, minister plenipotentiary from
Charles XII. were examined like criminals, the one at London, and the
other at Arnheim, while all the foreign ministers exclaimed against this
violation of the law of nations.

This privilege, which is much more insisted upon than understood, and
whose limits and extent have never yet been fixed, has, in almost every
age, received violent attacks. Several ministers have been driven from
the courts where they resided in a public character, and even their
persons have been more than once seized upon, but this was the first
instance of foreign ministers being interrogated at the bar of a court
of justice, as if they were natives of the country. The court of London
and the states-general laid aside all rules upon seeing the dangers
which menaced the house of Hanover; but, in fact, this danger, when once
discovered, ceased to be any longer danger, at least at that juncture.

The historian Norberg must have been very ill informed, and have had a
very indifferent knowledge of men and things, or at least have been
strangely blinded by partiality, or under severe restrictions from his
own court, to endeavour to persuade his readers, that the king of Sweden
had not a very great share in this plot.

The affront offered to his ministers fixed Charles more than ever in his
resolution to try every means to dethrone the king of England. But here
he found it necessary, once in his life time, to make use of
dissimulation. He disowned his ministers and their proceedings, both to
the regent of France and the states-general; from the former of whom he
evicted a subsidy, and with the latter it was for his interest to
keep fair. He did not, however, give the king of England so much
satisfaction, and his ministers, Gortz and Gillembourg, were kept six
months in confinement, and this repeated insult animated in him the
desire of revenge.

Peter, in the midst of all these alarms and jealousies, kept himself
quiet, waiting with patience the event of all from time; and having
established such good order throughout his vast dominions, as that he
had nothing to fear, either at home or from abroad, he resolved to make
a journey to France. Unhappily he did not understand the French
language, by which means he was deprived of the greatest advantage he
might have reaped from his journey; but he thought there might be
something there worthy observation, and he had a mind to be a nearer
witness of the terms on which the regent stood with the king of England,
and whether that prince was staunch to his alliance.

Peter the Great was received in France as such a monarch ought to be.
Marshal Tessé was sent to meet him, with a number of the principal
lords of the court, a company of guards and the king's coaches; but he,
according to his usual custom, travelled with such expedition, that he
was at Gournay when the equipages arrived at Elbeuf. Entertainments were
made for him in every place on the road where he chose to partake of
them. On his arrival he was received in the Louvre, where the royal
apartments were prepared for him, and others for the princes Kourakin
and Dolgorouki, the vice-chancellor Shaffiroff, the ambassador Tolstoy,
the same who had suffered in his person that notorious violation of the
laws of nations in Turkey, and for the rest of his retinue. Orders were
given for lodging and entertaining him in the most splendid and
sumptuous manner: but Peter, who was come only to see what might be of
use to him, and not to suffer these ceremonious triflings, which were a
restraint upon his natural plainness, and consumed a time that was
precious to him, went the same night to take up his lodgings at the
other end of the city in the hotel of Lesdiguiére, belonging to marshal
Villeroi, where he was entertained at the king's expense in the same
manner as he would have been at the Louvre. The next day (May 8, 1717.)
the regent of France went to make him a visit in the before mentioned
hotel, and the day afterwards the young king, then an infant, was sent
to him under the care of his governor, the marshal de Villeroi, whose
father had been governor to Lewis XIV. On this occasion, they, by a
polite artifice, spared the czar the troublesome restraint of returning
this visit immediately after receiving it, by allowing an interview of
two days for him to receive the respects of the several corporations of
the city; the second night he went to visit the king: the household were
all under arms, and they brought the young king quite to the door of
the czar's coach. Peter, surprised and uneasy at the prodigious
concourse of people assembled about the infant monarch, took him in his
arms, and carried him in that manner for some time.

Certain ministers, of more cunning than understanding, have pretended in
their writings, that marshal de Villeroi wanted to make the young king
of France take the upper hand on this occasion, and that the czar made
use of this stratagem to overturn the ceremonial under the appearance of
good nature and tenderness; but this notion is equally false and absurd.
The natural good breeding of the French court, and the respect due to
the person of Peter the Great, would not permit a thought of turning the
honours intended him into an affront. The ceremonial consisted in doing
every thing for a great monarch and a great man, that he himself could
have desired, if he had given any attention to matters of this kind. The
journeys of the emperor Charles IV. Sigismund, and Charles V. to France,
were by no means comparable, in point of splendour, to this of Peter the
Great. They visited this kingdom only from motives of political
interest, and at a time when the arts and sciences, as yet in their
infancy, could not render the era of their journey so memorable: but
when Peter the Great, on his going to dine with the duke d'Antin, in the
palace of Petitbourg, about three leagues out of Paris, saw his own
picture, which had been drawn for the occasion, brought on a sudden, and
placed in a room where he was, he then found that no people in the world
knew so well how to receive such a guest as the French.

He was still more surprised, when, on going to see them strike the
medals in the long gallery of the Louvre, where all the king's artists
are so handsomely lodged; a medal, which they were then striking,
happening to fall to the ground, the czar stooped hastily down to take
it up, when he beheld his own head engraved thereon, and on the reverse
a Fame standing with one foot upon a globe, and underneath these words
from Virgil--'Vires acquirit eundo;' an allusion equally delicate and
noble, and elegantly adapted to his travels and his fame. Several of
these medals in gold were presented to him, and to all those who
attended him. Wherever he went to view the works of any artists, they
laid the master-pieces of their performances at his feet, which they
besought him to accept. In a word, when he visited the manufactories of
the Gobelins, the workshop of the king's statuaries, painters,
goldsmiths, jewellers, or mathematical instrument-makers, whatever
seemed to strike his attention at any of those places, were always
offered him in the king's name.

Peter, who was a mechanic, an artist, and a geometrician, went to visit
the academy of sciences, who received him with an exhibition of every
thing they had most valuable and curious; but they had nothing so
curious as himself. He corrected, with his own hand, several
geographical errors in the charts of his own dominions, and especially
in those of the Caspian Sea. Lastly, he condescended to become one of
the members of that academy, and afterwards continued a correspondence
in experiments and discoveries with those among whom he had enrolled
himself as a simple brother. If we would find examples of such
travellers as Peter, we must go back to the times of a Pythagoras and an
Anacharsis, and even they did not quit the command of a mighty empire,
to go in search of instruction.

And here we cannot forbear recalling to the mind of the reader the
transport with which Peter the Great was seized on viewing the monument
of cardinal Richelieu. Regardless of the beauties of the sculpture,
which is a master-piece of its kind, he only admired the image of a
minister who had rendered himself so famous throughout Europe by
disturbing its peace, and restored to France that glory which she had
lost after the death of Henry IV. It is well known, that, embracing the
statue with rapture, he burst forth into this exclamation--'Great man! I
would have bestowed one half of my empire on thee, to have taught me to
govern the other.' And now, before he quitted France, he was desirous to
see the famous madame de Maintenon, whom he knew to be, in fact, the
widow of Lewis XIV. and who was now drawing very near her end; and his
curiosity was the more excited by the kind of conformity he found
between his own marriage and that of Lewis; though with this difference
between the king of France and him, that he had publickly married an
heroine, whereas Lewis XIV. had only privately enjoyed an amiable wife.

The czarina did not accompany her husband in this journey: he was
apprehensive that the excess of ceremony would be troublesome to her, as
well as the curiosity of a court little capable of distinguishing the
true merit of a woman, who had braved death by the side of her husband
both by sea and land, from the banks of the Pruth to the coast of
Finland.




CHAP. XXVIII.

    Of the return of the czar to his dominions.--Of his politics and
    occupations.


The behaviour of the Sorbonne to Peter, when he went to visit the
mausoleum of cardinal Richelieu, deserves to be treated of by itself.

Some doctors of this university were desirous to have the honour of
bringing about a union between the Greek and Latin churches. Those who
are acquainted with antiquity need not be told, that the Christian
religion was first introduced into the west by the Asiatic Greeks: that
it was born in the east, and that the first fathers, the first councils,
the first liturgies, and the first rites, were all from the east; that
there is not a single title or office in the hierarchy, but was in
Greek, and thereby plainly shews the same from whence they are all
derived to us. Upon the division of the Roman empire, it was next to
impossible, but that sooner or later there must be two religions as well
as two empires, and that the same schism should arise between the
eastern and western Christians, as between the followers of Osman and
the Persians.

It is this schism which certain doctors of the Sorbonne thought to crush
all at once by means of a memorial which they presented to Peter the
Great, and effect what Pope Leo XI. and his successors had in vain
laboured for many ages to bring about, by legates, councils, and even
money. These doctors should have known, that Peter the Great, who was
the head of the Russian church, was not likely to acknowledge the pope's
authority. They expatiated in their memorial on the liberties of the
Gallican church, which the czar gave himself no concern about. They
asserted that the popes ought to be subject to the councils, and that a
papal decree is not an article of faith: but their representations were
in vain; all they got by their pains, was to make the pope their enemy
by such free declarations, at the same time that they pleased neither
the czar nor the Russian church.

There were, in this plan of union, certain political views, which the
good fathers did not understand, and some points of controversy which
they pretended to understand, and which each party explained as they
thought proper. It was concerning the Holy Ghost, which, according to
the Latin church, proceeds from the Father and Son, and which, at
present, according to the Greeks, proceeds from the Father through the
Son, after having, for a considerable time, proceeded from the Father
only: on this occasion they quoted a passage in St. Epiphanius, where it
is said, 'That the Holy Ghost is neither brother to the Son, nor
grandson to the Father.'

But Peter, when he left Paris, had other business to mind, than that of
clearing up passages in St. Epiphanius. Nevertheless, he received the
memorial of the Sorbonne with his accustomed affability. That learned
body wrote to some of the Russian bishops, who returned a polite answer,
though the major part of them were offended at the proposed union. It
was in order to remove any apprehensions of such a union, that Peter,
some time afterwards, namely, in 1718, when he had driven the jesuits
out of his dominions, instituted the ceremony of a burlesque conclave.

He had at his court an old fool, named Jotof, who had learned him to
write, and who thought he had, by that trivial service, merited the
highest honours and most important posts: Peter, who sometimes softened
the toils of government, by indulging his people in amusements, which
befitted a nation as yet not entirely reformed by his labours, promised
his writing-master, to bestow on him one of the highest dignities in the
world; accordingly, he appointed him knéz papa, or supreme pontiff, with
an appointment of two thousand crowns, and assigned him a house to live
in, in the Tartarian quarter at Petersburg. He was installed by a number
of buffoons, with great ceremony, and four fellows who stammered were
appointed to harangue him on the accession. He created a number of
cardinals, and marched in procession at their head, and the whole sacred
college was made drunk with brandy. After the death of this Jotof, an
officer, named Buturlin, was made Pope: this ceremony has been thrice
renewed at Moscow and Petersburg, the ridiculousness of which, though it
appeared of no moment, yet has by its ridiculousness confirmed the
people in their aversion to a church, which pretended to the supreme
power, and whose church had anathematized so many crowned heads. In this
manner did the czar revenge the cause of twenty emperors of Germany, ten
kings of France, and a number of other sovereigns; and this was all the
advantage the Sorbonne gained from its impolitic attempt to unite the
Latin and Greek churches.

The czar's journey to France proved of more utility to his kingdom, by
bringing about a connexion with a trading and industrious people, than
could have arisen from the projected union between two rival churches;
one of which will always maintain its ancient independence, and the
other its new superiority.

Peter carried several artificers with him out of France, in the same
manner as he had done out of England; for every nation, which he
visited, thought it an honour to assist him in his design of
introducing the arts and sciences into his new-formed state, and to be
instrumental in this species of new creation.

In this expedition, he drew up a sketch of a treaty of commerce with
France, and which he put into the hands of his ministers at Holland, as
soon as he returned thither, but it was not signed by the French
ambassador, Chateauneuf, till the 15th August, 1717, at the Hague. This
treaty not only related to trade, but likewise to bringing about peace
in the North. The king of France and the elector of Brandenburg accepted
of the office of mediators, which Peter offered them. This was
sufficient to give the king of England to understand, that the czar was
not well pleased with him, and crowned the hopes of baron Gortz, who
from that time, left nothing undone to bring about a union between
Charles and Peter, to stir up new enemies against George I. and to
assist cardinal Alberoni in his schemes in every part of Europe. Gortz
now paid and received visits publicly from the czar's ministers at the
Hague, to whom he declared, that he was invested with full power from
the court of Sweden to conclude a peace.

The czar suffered Gortz to dispose all his batteries, without assisting
therein himself, and was prepared either to make peace with the king of
Sweden, or to carry on the war, and continued still in alliance with the
kings of Denmark, Poland, and Russia, and in appearance with the elector
of Hanover.

It was evident, that he had no fixed design, but that of profiting of
conjunctures and circumstances, and that his main object was to complete
the general establishments he had set on foot. He well knew, that
the negotiations and interests of princes, their leagues, their
friendships, their jealousies, and their enmities, were subject to
change with each revolving year, and that frequently not the smallest
traces remain of the greatest efforts in politics. A simple manufactory,
well established, is often of more real advantage to a state than twenty
treaties.

Peter having joined the czarina, who was waiting for him in Holland,
continued his travels with her. They crossed Westphalia, and arrived at
Berlin in a private manner. The new king of Prussia was as much an enemy
to ceremonious vanities, and the pomp of a court, as Peter himself; and
it was an instructive lesson to the etiquette of Vienna and Spain, the
punctilio of Italy, and the politesse of the French court, to see a
king, who only made use of a wooden elbow-chair, who went always in the
dress of a common soldier, and who had banished from his table, not only
all the luxuries, but even the more moderate indulgences of life.

The czar and czarina observed the same plain manner of living; and had
Charles been with them, the world might have beheld four crowned heads,
with less pomp and state about them than a German bishop, or a cardinal
of Rome. Never were luxury and effeminacy opposed by such noble
examples.

It cannot be denied, that if one of our fellow-subjects had, from mere
curiosity, made the fifth part of the journeys that Peter I. did for the
good of his kingdom, he would have been considered as an extraordinary
person, and one who challenged our consideration. From Berlin he went to
Dantzic, still accompanied by his wife, and from thence to Mittau, where
he protected his niece, the duchess of Courland, lately become a widow.
He visited all the places he had conquered, made several new and useful
regulations in Petersburg; he then goes to Moscow, where he rebuilds the
houses of several persons that had fallen to ruin; from thence he
transports himself to Czaritsin, on the river Wolga, to stop the
incursions of the Cuban Tartars, constructs lines of communication from
the Wolga to the Don, and erects forts at certain distances, between the
two rivers. At the same time he caused the military code, which he had
lately composed, to be printed, and erected a court of justice, to
examine into the conduct of his ministers, and to retrieve the disorders
in his finances; he pardons several who were found guilty, and punishes
others. Among the latter was the great prince Menzikoff himself, who
stood in need of the royal clemency. But a sentence more severe, which
he thought himself obliged to utter against his own son, filled with
bitterness those days, which were, in other respects, covered with so
much glory.




CHAP. XXIX.

    Proceedings against prince Alexis Petrowitz.


Peter the Great, at the age of seventeen, had married, in the year 1689,
Eudocia Theodora, or Theodorouna Lapoukin. Bred up in the prejudices of
her country, and incapable of surmounting them like her husband, the
greatest opposition he met with in erecting his empire, and forming his
people, came from her: she was, as is too common to her sex, a slave to
superstition; every new and useful alteration she looked upon as a
species of sacrilege; and every foreigner, whom the czar employed to
execute his great designs, appeared to her no better than as corruptors
and innovators.

Her open and public complaints gave encouragement to the factious, and
those who were the advocates for ancient customs and manners. Her
conduct, in other respects, by no means made amends for such heavy
imperfections. The czar was at length obliged to repudiate her in 1696,
and shut her up in a convent at Susdal, where they obliged her to take
the veil under the name of Helena.

The son, whom he had by her in 1690, was born unhappily with the
disposition of his mother, and that disposition received additional
strength from his very first education. My memoirs say, that he was
entrusted to the care of superstitious men, who ruined his understanding
for ever. 'Twas in vain that they hoped to correct these first
impressions, by giving him foreign preceptors; their very quality of
being foreigners disgusted him. He was not born destitute of genius; he
spoke and wrote German well; he had a tolerable notion of designing, and
understood something of mathematics: but these very memoirs affirm, that
the reading of ecclesiastical books was the ruin of him. The young
Alexis imagined he saw in these books a condemnation of every thing
which his father had done. There were some priests at the head of the
malcontents, and by the priests he suffered himself to be governed.

They persuaded him that the whole nation looked with horror upon the
enterprises of Peter; that the frequent illnesses of the czar promised
but a short life; and that his son could not hope to please the nation,
but by testifying his aversion for all changes of custom. These murmurs,
and these counsels, did not break out into an open faction or
conspiracy, but every thing seemed to tend that way, and the tempers of
the people were inflamed.

Peter's marriage with Catherine in 1707, and the children which he had
by her, began to sour the disposition of the young prince. Peter tried
every method to reclaim him: he even placed him at the head of the
regency for a year; he sent him to travel; he married him in 1711, at
the end of the campaign of Pruth, to the princess of Brunswick. This
marriage was attended with great misfortunes. Alexis, now twenty years
old, gave himself up to the debauchery of youth, and that boorishness of
ancient manners he so much delighted in. These irregularities almost
brutalized him. His wife, despised, ill-treated, wanting even
necessaries, and deprived of all comforts, languished away in
disappointment, and died at last of grief, the first of November, 1715.

She left the prince Alexis one son; and according to the natural order,
this son was one day to become heir to the empire. Peter perceived with
sorrow, that when he should be no more, all his labours were likely to
be destroyed by those of his own blood. After the death of the princess,
he wrote a letter to his son, equally tender and resolute: it finished
with these words: 'I will still wait a little time, to see if you will
correct yourself; if not, know that I will cut you off from the
succession, as we lop off a useless member. Don't imagine, that I mean
only to intimidate you; don't rely upon the title of being my only son;
for if I spare not my own life for my country, and the good of my
people, how shall I spare you? I will rather choose to leave my kingdom
to a foreigner who deserves it, than to my own son, who makes himself
unworthy of it.'

This is the letter of a father, but it is still more the letter of a
legislator; it shews us, besides, that the order of succession was not
invariably established in Russia, as in other kingdoms, by those
fundamental laws which take away from fathers the right of disinheriting
their children; and the czar believed he had an undoubted prerogative to
dispose of an empire which he had founded.

At this very time the empress Catherine was brought to bed of a prince,
who died afterwards in 1719. Whether this news sunk the courage of
Alexis, or whether it was imprudence or bad counsel, he wrote to his
father, that he renounced the crown, and all hopes of reigning. 'I take
God to witness,' says he, 'and I swear by my soul that I will never
pretend to the succession. I put my children into your hands, and I
desire only a provision for life.'

The czar wrote him a second letter, as follows:[98]--'You speak of the
succession, as if I stood in need of your consent in the disposal
thereof. I reproached you with the aversion you have shewn to all kind
of business, and signified to you, that I was highly dissatisfied with
your conduct in general; but to these particulars you have given me no
answer. Paternal exhortations make no impression on you, wherefore I
resolved to write you this once for the last time. If you despise the
advice I give you while I am alive, what regard will you pay to them
after my death? But though you had the inclination at present to be true
to your promises, yet a corrupt priesthood will be able to turn you at
pleasure, and force you to falsify them. They have no dependance but
upon you. You have no sense of gratitude towards him who gave you your
being. Have you ever assisted him in toils and labours since you arrived
at the age of maturity? Do you not censure and condemn, nay, even affect
to hold in detestation, whatever I do for the good of my people? In a
word, I have reason to conclude, that if you survive me, you will
overturn every thing that I have done. Take your choice, either
endeavour to make yourself worthy of the throne, or embrace a monastic
state. I expect your answer, either in writing, or by word of mouth,
otherwise I shall treat you as a common malefactor.'

This letter was very severe, and it was easy for the prince to have
replied, that he would alter his conduct; instead of which, he only
returned a short answer to his father, desiring permission to turn
monk.[100]

This resolution appeared altogether unnatural; and it may furnish matter
of surprise, that the czar should think of travelling, and leaving a son
at home so obstinate and ill-affected; but, at the same time, his doing
so, is next to a proof, that he thought he had no reason to apprehend a
conspiracy from that son.

The czar, before he set out for Germany and France, went to pay his son
a visit. The prince, who was at that time ill, or at least feigned
himself so, received his father in his bed, where he protested, with the
most solemn oaths, that he was ready to retire into a cloister. The czar
gave him six months to consider of it, and then set out on his travels
with the czarina.

No sooner was he arrived at Copenhagen, than he heard (what he might
reasonably expect) that the czarowitz conversed only with factions and
evil-minded persons, who strove to feed his discontent. Upon this the
czar wrote to him, that he had to choose between a throne and a convent;
and that, if he had any thoughts of succeeding him, he must immediately
set out and join him at Copenhagen.

But the confidants of the prince remonstrating to him how dangerous it
would be to trust himself in a place where he could have no friends to
advise him, and where he would be exposed to the anger of an incensed
father, and the machinations of a revengeful step-mother; he, under
pretence of going to join his father at Copenhagen, took the road to
Vienna, and threw himself under the protection of the emperor Charles
VI. his brother-in-law, intending to remain at his court till the death
of the czar.

This adventure of the czarowitz was nearly the same as that of Lewis XI.
of France, who, when he was dauphin, quitted the court of his father
Charles VII. and took refuge with the duke of Burgundy; but the dauphin
was much more culpable than Alexis, inasmuch as he married in direct
opposition to his father's will, raised an army against him, and threw
himself into the arms of a prince, who was Charles's declared enemy, and
refused to hearken to the repeated remonstances of his father, to return
back to his court.

The czarowitz, on the contrary, had married only in compliance with his
father's orders, had never rebelled against him, nor raised an army, nor
taken refuge in the dominions of an enemy, and returned to throw himself
at his feet, upon the very first letter he received from him; for, as
soon as Peter knew that his son had been at Vienna, and had afterwards
retired to Tyrol, and from thence to Naples, which, at that time,
belonged to the emperor, he dispatched Romanzoff, a captain of his
guards, and the privy-counsellor Tolstoy, with a letter written with his
own hand, and dated at Spa, the 21st of July, N. S. 1717. They found the
prince at Naples, in the castle of St. Elme, and delivered to him his
father's letter, which was as follows:--

'I now write to you for the last time, to acquaint you, that you must
instantly comply with my orders, which will be communicated to you by
Tolstoy and Romanzoff. If you obey, I give you my sacred word and
promise, that I will not punish you; and that, if you will return home,
I will love you more than ever; but, if you do not, I, as your father,
and in virtue of the authority which God has given me over you, denounce
against you my eternal curse; and, as your sovereign, declare to you,
that I will find means to punish your disobedience, in which I trust God
himself will assist me, and espouse the just cause of an injured parent
and king.

'For the rest, remember that I have never laid any restraint upon you.
Was I obliged to leave you at liberty to choose your way of life? Had I
not the power in my own hands to oblige you to conform to my will? I had
only to command, and make myself obeyed.'

The viceroy of Naples found it no difficult matter to persuade the
czarowitz to return to his father. This is an incontestable proof that
the emperor had no intention to enter into any engagements with the
prince, that might give umbrage to his father. Alexis therefore returned
with the envoys, bringing with him his mistress, Aphrosyne, who had been
the companion of his elopement.

We may consider the czarowitz as an ill-advised young man, who had gone
to Vienna and to Naples, instead of going to Copenhagen, agreeable to
the orders of his father and sovereign. Had he been guilty of no other
crime than this, which is common enough with young and giddy persons, it
was certainly very excusable. The prince determined to return to his
father, on the faith of his having taken God to witness, that he not
only would pardon him, but that he would love him better than ever. But
it appears by the instructions given to the two envoys who went to fetch
him, and even by the czar's own letter, that his father required him to
declare the persons who had been his counsellors, and also to fulfil
the oath he had made of renouncing the succession.

It seemed difficult to reconcile this exclusion of the czarowitz from
the succession, with the other part of the oath, by which the czar had
bound himself in his letter, namely that of loving his son better than
ever. Perhaps divided between paternal love, and the justice he owed to
himself and people, as a sovereign, he might limit the renewal of his
affection to his son in a convent, instead of to that son on a throne:
perhaps, likewise, he was in hopes to reduce him to reason, and to
render him worthy of the succession at last, by making him sensible of
the loss of a crown which he had forfeited by his own indiscretion. In a
circumstance so uncommon, so intricate, and so afflicting, it may be
easily supposed that the minds of both father and son were under equal
perturbation, and hardly consistent with themselves.

The prince arrived at Moscow on the 13th of February, N. S. 1717; and
the same day went to throw himself at his father's feet, who was
returned to the city from his travels. They had a long conference
together, and a report was immediately spread through the city, that the
prince and his father were reconciled, and that all past transactions
were buried in oblivion. But the next day, orders were issued for the
regiments of guards to be under arms at break of day, and for all the
czar's ministers, boyards, and counsellors, to repair to the great hall
of the castle; as also for the prelates, together with two monks of St.
Basile, professors of divinity, to assemble in the cathedral, at the
tolling of the great bell. The unhappy prince was then conducted to the
great castle like a prisoner, and being come in his father's presence,
threw himself in tears at his feet, and presented a writing, containing
a confession of his faults, declaring himself unworthy of the
succession, and imploring only that his life might be spared.[101]

The czar, raising up his son, withdrew with him into a private room,
where he put many questions to him, declaring to him at the same time,
that if he concealed any one circumstance relating to his elopement, his
life should answer for it. The prince was then brought back to the great
hall, where the council was assembled, and the czar's declaration, which
had been previously prepared, was there publicly read in his
presence.[102]

In this piece the czar reproaches his son with all those faults we have
before related, namely, his little application to study, his connexions
with the favourers of the ancient customs and manners of the country,
and his ill-behaviour to his wife.--'He has even violated the conjugal
faith,' saith the czar in his manifesto, 'by giving his affection to a
prostitute of the most servile and low condition, during the life-time
of his lawful spouse.' It is certain that Peter himself had repudiated
his own wife in favour of a captive, but that captive was a person of
exemplary merit, and the czar had just cause for discontent against his
wife, who was at the same time his subject. The czarowitz, on the
contrary, had abandoned his princess for a young woman, hardly known to
any one, and who had no other merit but that of personal charms. So far
there appears some errors of a young man, which a parent ought to
reprimand in secret, and which he might have pardoned.

The czar, in his manifesto, next reproaches his son with his flight to
Vienna, and his having put himself under the emperor's protection; and
adds, that he had calumniated his father, by telling the emperor that he
was persecuted by him; and that he had compelled him to renounce the
succession; and, lastly, that he had made intercession with the emperor
to assist him with an armed force.

Here it immediately occurs, that the emperor could not, with any
propriety, have entered into a war with the czar on such an occasion;
nor could he have interposed otherwise between an incensed father and a
disobedient son, than by his good offices to promote a reconciliation.
Accordingly we find, that Charles VI. contented himself with giving a
temporary asylum to the fugitive prince, and readily sent him back on
the first requisition of the czar, in consequence of being informed of
the place his son had chosen for his retreat.

Peter adds, in this terrible piece, that Alexis had persuaded the
emperor, that he went in danger of his life, if he returned back to
Russia. Surely it was in some measure justifying these complaints of the
prince, to condemn him to death at his return, and especially after so
solemn a promise to pardon him; but we shall see, in the course of this
history, the cause which afterwards moved the czar to denounce this
ever-memorable sentence. For the present let us turn our eyes upon an
absolute prince, pleading against his son before an august assembly.--

'In this manner,' says he, 'has our son returned; and although, by his
withdrawing himself and raising calumnies against us, he has deserved to
be punished with death, yet, out of our paternal affection, we pardon
his crimes; but, considering his unworthiness, and the series of his
irregular conduct, we cannot in conscience leave him the succession to
the throne of Russia; foreseeing that, by his vicious courses, he would,
after our decease, entirely destroy the glory of our nation, and the
safety of our dominions, which we have recovered from the enemy.

'Now, as we should pity our states and our faithful subjects, if, by
such a successor, we should throw them back into a much worse condition
than ever they were yet; so, by the paternal authority, and, in quality
of sovereign prince, in consideration of the safety of our dominions, we
do deprive our said son Alexis, for his crimes and unworthiness, of the
succession after us to our throne of Russia, even though there should
not remain one single person of our family after us.

'And we do constitute and declare successor to the said throne after us,
our second son, Peter,[103] though yet very young, having no successor
that is older.

'We lay upon our said son Alexis our paternal curse, if ever at any time
he pretends to, or reclaims, the said succession.

'And we desire our faithful subjects, whether ecclesiastics or seculars,
of all ranks and conditions, and the whole Russian nation, in conformity
to this constitution and our will, to acknowledge and consider our son
Peter, appointed by us to succeed, as lawful successor, and agreeably to
this our constitution, to confirm the whole by oath before the holy
altar, upon the holy gospel, kissing the cross.

'And all those who shall ever at any time oppose this our will, and who,
from this day forward, shall dare to consider our son Alexis as
successor, or assist him for that purpose, declare them traitors to us
and our country. And we have ordered that these presents shall be every
where published and promulgated, to the end that no person may pretend
ignorance.'

It would seem that this declaration had been prepared beforehand for the
occasion, or that it had been drawn up with astonishing dispatch: for
the czarowitz did not return to Moscow till the 13th of February, and
his renunciation in favour of the empress Catherine's son is dated the
14th.

The prince on his part signed his renunciation, whereby he acknowledges
his exclusion to be just, as having merited it by his own fault and
unworthiness; 'And I do hereby swear,' adds he, 'in presence of God
Almighty in the Holy Trinity, to submit in all things to my father's
will,' &c.

These instruments being signed, the czar went in procession to the
cathedral, where they were read a second time, when the whole body of
clergy signed their approbation with their seals at the bottom, to a
copy prepared for that purpose.[104] No prince was ever disinherited in
so authentic a manner. There are many states in which an act of this
kind would be of no validity; but in Russia, as in ancient Rome, every
father has a power of depriving his son of his succession, and this
power was still stronger in a sovereign than in a private subject, and
especially in such a sovereign as Peter.

But, nevertheless, it was to be apprehended, that those who had
encouraged the prince in his opposition to his father's will, and had
advised him to withdraw himself from his court, might one day endeavour
to set aside a renunciation which had been procured by force, and
restore to the eldest son that crown which had been violently snatched
from him to place on the head of a younger brother by a second marriage.
In this case it was easy to foresee a civil war, and a total subversion
of all the great and useful projects which Peter had so much laboured to
establish; and therefore the present matter in question was to determine
between the welfare of near eighteen millions of souls (which was nearly
the number which the empire of Russia contained at that time), and the
interest of a single person incapable of governing. Hence it became
necessary to find out those who were disaffected, and accordingly the
czar a second time threatened his son with the most fatal consequences
if he concealed any thing: and the prince was obliged to undergo a
judicial examination by his father, and afterwards by the commissioners
appointed for that purpose.

One principal article of the charge brought against him, and that which
served chiefly to his condemnation, was, a letter from one Beyer, the
emperor's resident at the court of Russia, dated at Petersburg, after
the flight of the prince. This letter makes mention of a mutiny in the
Russian army then assembled at Mecklenburg, and that several officers
talked of clapping up Catherine and her son in the prison where the late
empress, whom Peter had repudiated, was then confined, and of placing
the czarowitz on the throne, as soon as he could be found out and
brought back. These idle projects fell to the ground of themselves, and
there was not the least appearance that Alexis had ever countenanced
them. The whole was only a piece of news related by a foreigner; the
letter itself was not directed to the prince, and he had only a copy
thereof transmitted him while at Vienna.

But a charge of a more grievous nature appeared against him, namely, the
heads of a letter written with his own hand, and which he had sent,
while at the court of Vienna, to the senators and prelates of Russia, in
which were the following very strong assertions:--'The continual
ill-treatment which I have suffered without having deserved it, have at
length obliged me to consult my peace and safety by flight. I have
narrowly escaped being confined in a convent, by those who have already
served my mother in the same manner. I am now under the protection of a
great prince, and I beseech you not to abandon me in this conjuncture.'

The expression, _in this conjuncture_, which might be construed into a
seditious meaning, appeared to have been blotted out, and then inserted
again by his own hand, and afterwards blotted out a second time; which
shewed it to be the action of a young man disturbed in his mind,
following the dictates of his resentment, and repenting of it at the
very instant. There were only the copies of these letters found: they
were never sent to the persons they were designed for, the court of
Vienna having taken care to stop them; a convincing proof that the
emperor never intended to break with the czar, or to assist the son to
take up arms against his father.

Several witnesses were brought to confront the prince, and one of them,
named Afanassief, deposed, that he had formerly heard him speak these
words,--'I shall mention something to the bishops, who will mention it
again to the lower clergy, and they to the parish priests, and the crown
will be placed on my head whether I will or not.'

His own mistress, Aphrosyne, was likewise brought to give evidence
against him. The charge, however, was not well supported in all its
parts; there did not appear to have been any regular plan formed, any
chain of intrigues, or any thing like a conspiration or combination, nor
the least shadow of preparation for a change in the government. The
whole affair was that of a son, of a depraved and factious disposition,
who thought himself injured by his father, who fled from him, and who
wished for his death; but this son was heir to the greatest monarchy in
our hemisphere, and in his situation and place he could not be guilty of
trivial faults.

After the accusations of his mistress, another witness was brought
against him, in relation to the former czarina his mother, and the
princess Mary his sister. He was charged with having consulted the
former in regard to his flight, and of having mentioned it to the
princess Mary. The bishop of Rostow, who was the confidant of all three,
having been seized, deposed, that the two princesses, who were then shut
up in a convent, had expressed their wishes for a revolution in affairs
that might restore them their liberty, and had even encouraged the
prince, by their advice, to withdraw himself out of the kingdom. The
more natural their resentment was, the more it was to be apprehended. We
shall see, at the end of this chapter, what kind of a person the bishop
of Rostow was, and what had been his conduct.

The czarowitz at first denied several facts of this nature which were
alleged against him, and by this very behaviour subjected himself to the
punishment of death, with which his father had threatened him in case he
did not make an open and sincere confession.

At last, however, he acknowledged several disrespectful expressions
against his father, which were laid to his charge, but excused himself
by saying, he had been hurried away by passion and drink.

The czar himself drew up several new interrogations. The fourth ran as
follows:--

'When you found by Beyer's letter that there was a mutiny among the
troops in Mecklenburg, you seemed pleased with it; you must certainly
have had some reason for it; and I imagine you would have joined the
rebels even during my life-time?'

This was interrogating the prince on the subject of his private
thoughts, which, though they might be revealed to a father, who may, by
his advice, correct them, yet might they also with justice be concealed
from a judge, who decides only upon acknowledged facts. The private
sentiments of a man's heart have nothing to do in a criminal process,
and the prince was at liberty either to deny them or disguise them, in
such manner as he should think best for his own safety, as being under
no obligation to lay open his heart, and yet we find him returning the
following answer: 'If the rebels had called upon me during your
life-time, I do verily believe I should have joined them, supposing I
had found them sufficiently strong.'

It is hardly conceivable that he could have made this reply of himself,
and it would be full as extraordinary, at least according to the custom
in our part of the world, to condemn a person for confessing that he
might have thought in a certain manner in a conjuncture that never
happened.

To this strange confession of his private thoughts, which had till then
been concealed in the bottom of his heart, they added proofs that could
hardly be admitted as such in a court of justice in any other country.

The prince, sinking under his misfortunes, and almost deprived of his
senses, studied within himself, with all the ingenuity of fear, for
whatever could most effectually serve for his destruction; and at length
acknowledged, that in private confession to the archpriest James, he had
wished his father dead; and that his confessor made answer, 'God will
pardon you this wish: we all wish the same.'

The canons of our church do not admit of proofs resulting from private
confession, inasmuch as they are held inviolable secrets between God and
the penitent: and both the Greek and Latin churches are agreed, that
this intimate and secret correspondence between a sinner and the Deity
are beyond the cognizance of a temporal court of justice. But here the
welfare of a kingdom and a king were concerned. The archpriest, being
put to the torture, confirmed all that the prince had revealed; and this
trial furnished the unprecedented instance of a confessor accused by his
penitent, and that penitent by his own mistress. To this may be added
another singular circumstance, namely, the archbishop of Rezan having
been involved in several accusations on account of having spoken too
favourably of the young czarowitz in one of his sermons, at the time
that his father's resentment first broke out against him; that weak
prince declared, in his answer to one of the interrogations, that he had
depended on the assistance of that prelate, at the same time that he was
at the head of the ecclesiastical court, which the czar had consulted in
relation to this criminal process against his son, as we shall see in
the course of this chapter.

There is another remark to be made in this extraordinary trial, which we
find so very lamely related in the absurd History of Peter the Great, by
the pretended bojar Nestersuranoy, and that is the following:

Among other answers which the czarowitz Alexis made to the first
question put to him by his father, he acknowledges, that while he was at
Vienna, finding that he could not be admitted to see the emperor, he
applied himself to count Schonborn, the high chamberlain, who told him,
the emperor would not abandon him, and that as soon as occasion should
offer, by the death of his father, that he would assist him to recover
the throne by force of arms. 'Upon which,' adds the prince, 'I made him
the following answer: "This is what I by no means desire: if the emperor
will only grant me his protection for the present, I ask no more."' This
deposition is plain, natural, and carries with it strong marks of the
truth; for it would have been the height of madness to have asked the
emperor for an armed force to dethrone his father, and no one would have
ventured to have made such an absurd proposal, either to the emperor,
prince Eugene, or to the council. This deposition bears date in the
month of February, and four months afterwards, namely, after the 1st of
July, and towards the latter end of the proceedings against the
czarowitz, that prince is made to say, in the last answers he delivered
in writing:--

'Being unwilling to imitate my father in any thing, I endeavoured to
secure myself the succession by any means whatever, _excepting such as
were just_. I attempted to get it by a foreign assistance; and, had I
succeeded, and that the emperor had fulfilled _what he had promised me_,
to replace me on the throne of Russia even by force of arms, I would
have left nothing undone to have got possession of it. For instance, if
the emperor had demanded of me, in return for his services, a body of my
own troops to fight for him against any power whatever, that might be in
arms against him, or a large sum of money to defray the charges of a
war, I should have readily granted every thing he asked, and should have
gratified his ministers and generals with magnificent presents. I would
at my own expense have maintained the auxiliary troops he might have
furnished to put me in possession of the crown; and, in a word, I should
have thought nothing too much to have accomplished my ends.'

This answer seems greatly strained, and appears as if the unhappy
deponent was exerting his utmost efforts to appear more culpable than he
really was; nay, he seems to have spoken absolutely contrary to truth in
a capital point. He says the emperor had promised to procure him the
crown by force of arms. This is absolutely false: Schonborn had given
him hopes that, after the death of his father, the emperor might assist
him to recover his birth-right; but the emperor himself never made him
any promise. And lastly, the matter in question was not if he should
take arms against his father, but if he should succeed him after his
death?

By this last deposition he declares what he believes he should have
done, had he been obliged to dispute his birth-right, which he had not
formally renounced till after his journey to Vienna and Naples. Here
then we have a second deposition, not of any thing he had already done,
and the actual commission of which, would have subjected him to the
rigorous inquiry of the law, but of what he imagines he should have done
had occasion offered, and which consequently is no subject of a
juridical inquiry. Thus does he twice together accuse himself of private
thoughts that he might have entertained in a future time. The known
world does not produce an instance of a man tried and condemned for
vague and inconsequential notions that came into his head, and which he
never communicated to any one; nor is there a court of justice in Europe
that will hear a man accuse himself of criminal thoughts; nay, we
believe that they are not punished by God himself, unless accompanied by
a fixed resolution to put them in practice.

To these natural reflections it may be answered, that the czarowitz had
given his father a just right to punish him, by having withheld the
names of several of the accomplices of his flight. His pardon was
promised him only on condition of making a full and open confession,
which he did not till it was too late. Lastly, after so public an
affair, it was not in human nature that Alexis should ever forgive a
brother in favour of whom he had been disinherited; therefore, it was
thought better to punish one guilty person, than to expose a whole
nation to danger, and herein the rigour of justice and reasons of state
acted in concert.

We must not judge of the manners and laws of one nation by those of
others. The czar was possessed of the fatal, but incontestable right of
punishing his son with death, for the single crime of having withdrawn
himself out of the kingdom against his consent; and he thus explains
himself in his declaration addressed to the prelates and others, who
composed the high courts of justice. 'Though, according to all laws,
civil and divine, and especially those of this empire, which grant an
absolute jurisdiction to fathers over their children (even fathers in
private life) we have a full and unlimited power to judge our son for
his crimes according to our pleasure, without asking the advice of any
person whatsoever: yet, as men are more liable to prejudice and
partiality in their own affairs, than in those of others, and as the
most eminent and expert physicians rely not on their judgment concerning
themselves, but call in the advice and assistance of others; so we,
under the fear of God, and an awful dread of offending him, in like
manner make known our disease, and apply to you for a cure; being
apprehensive of eternal death, if ignorant perhaps of the nature of our
distemper, we should attempt to cure ourselves; and the rather as in a
solemn appeal to Almighty God, I have signed, sworn, and confirmed a
promise of pardon to my son, in case he should declare to me the truth.

'And though he has violated this promise, by concealing the most
important circumstances of his rebellious design against us; yet that we
may not in any thing swerve from our obligations, we pray you to
consider this affair with seriousness and attention, and report what
punishment he deserves without favour or partiality either to him or
me; for should you apprehend that he deserves but a slight punishment,
it will be disagreeable to me. I swear to you by the great God and his
judgments, that you have nothing to fear on this head.

'Neither let the reflection of your being to pass sentence on the son of
your prince have any influence on you, but administer justice without
respect of persons, and destroy not your own souls and mine also, by
doing any thing to injure our country, or upbraid our consciences in the
great and terrible day of judgment.'

The czar afterwards addressed himself to the clergy,[105] by another
declaration to the same purpose; so that every thing was transacted in
the most authentic manner, and Peter's behaviour through the whole of
this affair was so open and undisguised, as shewed him to be fully
satisfied of the justice of his cause.

On the first of July the clergy delivered their opinion in writing. In
fact, it was their opinion only, and not a judgment, which the czar
required of them. The beginning is deserving the attention of all
Europe.

'This affair (say the prelates and the rest of the clergy) does in no
wise fall within the verge of the ecclesiastical court, nor is the
absolute power invested in the sovereign of the Russian empire subject
to the cognizance of his people; but he has an unlimited power of acting
herein as to him shall seem best, without any inferior having a right to
intermeddle therein.'

After their preamble they proceed to cite several texts of scripture,
particularly Leviticus, wherein it is said, 'Cursed be he that curseth
his father or mother;' and the gospel of St. Matthew, which repeats this
severe denunciation. And they concluded, after several other
quotations,[106] with these remarkable words:

'If his majesty is inclinable to punish the offender according to his
deeds and the measure of his crimes, he has before him the examples in
the Old Testament, if on the other hand, he is inclined to shew mercy,
he has a pattern in our Lord Jesus Christ, who receives the prodigal
son, when returning with a contrite heart, who set free the woman taken
in adultery, whom the law sentenced to be stoned to death, and who
prefers mercy to burnt-offerings. He has likewise the example of David,
who spared his son Absalom, who had rebelled against and persecuted him,
saying to his captains, when going forth to the fight, "Spare my son
Absalom." The father was here inclinable to mercy, but divine Justice
suffered not the offender to go unpunished.

'The heart of the czar is in the hands of God; let him take that side to
which it shall please the Almighty to direct him.'

This opinion was signed by eight archbishops and bishops, four
archpriests, and two professors of divinity; and, as we have already
observed, the metropolitan archbishop of Rezan, the same with whom the
prince had held a correspondence, was the first who signed.

As soon as the clergy had signed this opinion, they presented it to the
czar. It is easy to perceive that this body was desirous of inclining
his mind to clemency; and nothing can be more beautiful than the
contrast between the mercy of Jesus Christ, and the rigour of the Jewish
law, placed before the eyes of a father, who was the prosecutor of his
own son.

The same day the czarowitz was again examined for the last time, and
signed his final confession in writing, wherein he acknowledges himself
'to have been a bigot in his youthful days, to have frequented the
company of priests and monks, to have drank with them, and to have
imbibed from their conversations the first impressions of dislike to the
duties of his station, and even to the person of his father.'

If he made this confession of his own accord, it shews that he must have
been ignorant of the mild advice the body of clergy, whom he thus
accuses, had lately given his father; and it is a still stronger proof,
how great a change the czar had wrought in the manners of the clergy of
his time, who, from a state of the most deplorable ignorance, were in so
short a time become capable of drawing up a writing, which for its
wisdom and eloquence might have been owned, without a blush, by the most
illustrious fathers of the church.

It is in this last confession that the czarowitz made that declaration
on which we have already commented, viz. that he endeavoured to secure
to himself the succession by any means whatever, except such as were
just.

One would imagine, by this last confession, that the prince was
apprehensive he had not rendered himself sufficiently criminal in the
eyes of his judges, by his former self-accusations, and that, by giving
himself the character of a dissembler and a bad man, and supposing how
he might have acted had he been the master, he was carefully studying
how to justify the fatal sentence which was about to be pronounced
against him, and which was done on the 5th of July. This sentence will
be found, at length, at the end of this volume; therefore, we shall only
observe in this place that it begins, like the opinion of the clergy, by
declaring, that 'it belongs not to subjects to take cognizance of such
an affair, which depends solely on the absolute will of the sovereign,
whose authority is derived from God alone;' and then, after having set
forth the several articles of the charge brought against the prince, the
judges express themselves thus: 'What shall we think of a rebellious
design, almost unparalleled in history, joined to that of a horrid
parricide against him, who was his father in a double capacity?'

Probably these words have been wrong translated from the trial printed
by order of the czar; for certainly there have been instances in history
of much greater rebellions; and no part of the proceedings against the
czarowitz discover any design in him of killing his father. Perhaps, by
the word parricide, is understood the deposition made by the prince,
that one day he declared at confession, that he had wished for the death
of his father. But, how can a private declaration of a secret thought,
under the seal of confession, be a double parricide?

Be this as it may, the czarowitz was unanimously condemned to die, but
no mention was made in the sentence of the manner in which he was to
suffer. Of one hundred and forty-four judges, there was not one who
thought of a lesser punishment than death. Whereas, an English tract,
which made a great noise at that time, observes, that if such a cause
had been brought before an English parliament, there would not have been
one judge out of one hundred and forty-four, that would have inflicted
even a penalty.

There cannot be a stronger proof of the difference of times and places.
The consul Manlius would have been condemned by the laws of England to
lose his own life, for having put his son to death; whereas he was
admired and extolled for that action by the rigid Romans: but the same
laws would not punish a prince of Wales for leaving the kingdom, who, as
a peer of the realm, has a right to go and come when he pleases.[107] A
criminal design, not perpetrated, is not punishable by the laws in
England[108] or France, but it is in Russia. A continued formal and
repeated disobedience of commands would, amongst us, be considered only
an error in conduct, which ought to be suppressed; but, in Russia, it
was judged a capital crime in the heir of a great empire, whose ruin
might have been the consequence of that disobedience. Lastly, the
czarowitz was culpable towards the whole nation, by his design of
throwing it back into that state of darkness and ignorance, from which
his father had so lately delivered it.

Such was the acknowledged power of the czar, that he might put his son
to death for disobedience to him, without consulting any one;
nevertheless, he submitted the affair to the judgment of the
representatives of the nation, so that it was in fact the nation itself
who passed sentence on the prince; and Peter was so well satisfied with
the equity of his own conduct, that he voluntarily submitted it to the
judgment of every other nation, by causing the whole proceedings to be
printed and translated into several languages.

The law of history would not permit us to disguise or palliate aught in
the relation of this tragic event. All Europe was divided in its
sentiments, whether most to pity a young prince, prosecuted by his own
father, and condemned to lose his life, by those who were one day to
have been his subjects; or the father, who thought himself under a
necessity to sacrifice his own son to the welfare of his nation.

It was asserted in several books, published on this subject, that the
czar sent to Spain for a copy of the proceedings against Don Carlos, who
had been condemned to death by his father, king Philip II. But this is
false, inasmuch as Don Carlos was never brought to his trial: the
conduct of Peter I. was totally different from that of Philip. The
Spanish monarch never made known to the world the reasons for which he
had confined his son, nor in what manner that prince died. He wrote
letters on this occasion to the pope and the empress, which were
absolutely contradictory to each other. William prince of Orange accused
Philip publicly of having sacrificed his son and his wife to his
jealousy, and to have behaved rather like a jealous and cruel husband,
and an unnatural and murderous father, than a severe and upright judge.
Philip suffered this accusation against him to pass unanswered: Peter,
on the contrary, did nothing but in the eye of the world; he openly
declared, that he preferred his people to his own son, submitted his
cause to the judgment of the principal persons of his kingdom, and made
the whole world the judge of their proceedings and his own.

There was another extraordinary circumstance attending this unhappy
affair, which was, that the empress Catherine, who was hated by the
czarowitz, and whom he had publicly threatened with the worst of
treatment, whenever he should mount the throne, was not in any way
accessary to his misfortunes; and was neither accused, nor even
suspected by any foreign minister residing at the court of Russia, of
having taken the least step against a son-in-law, from whom she had so
much to fear. It is true, indeed, that no one pretends to say she
interceded with the czar for his pardon: but all the accounts of these
times, and especially those of the count de Bassewitz, agree, that she
was greatly affected with his misfortunes.

I have now before me the memoirs of a public minister, in which I find
the following words: 'I was present when the czar told the duke of
Holstein, that the czarina Catherine, had begged of him to prevent the
sentence passed upon the czarowitz, being publicly read to that prince.
'Content yourself,' said she, 'with obliging him to turn monk; for this
public and formal condemnation of your son will reflect an odium on your
grandson.'

The czar, however, would not hearken to the intercession of his spouse;
he thought there was a necessity to have the sentence publicly read to
the prince himself, in order that he might have no pretence left to
dispute this solemn act, in which he himself acquiesced, and that being
dead in law, he could never after claim a right to the crown.

Nevertheless, if, after the death of Peter, a formidable party had arose
in favour of Alexis, would his being dead in law have prevented him from
ascending the throne?

The prince then had his sentence read to him: and the memoirs I have
just mentioned observe, that he fell into a fit on hearing these words:
'The laws divine and ecclesiastical, civil and military, condemn to
death, without mercy, those whose attempts against their father and
their sovereign have been fully proved.' These fits it is said, turned
to an apoplexy, and it was with great difficulty he was recovered at
that time. Afterwards, when he came a little to himself, and in the
dreadful interval, between life and death, he sent for his father to
come to him: the czar accordingly went, and both father and son burst
into a flood of tears. The unhappy culprit asked his offended parent's
forgiveness, which he gave him publicly: then, being in the agonies of
death, extreme unction was administered to him in the most solemn
manner, and soon after he expired in the presence of the whole court,
the day after the fatal sentence had been pronounced upon him. His body
was immediately carried to the cathedral, where it lay in state, exposed
to public view for four days, after which it was interred in the church
of the citadel, by the side of his late princess; the czar and czarina
assisting at the funeral.

And here I think myself indispensably obliged to imitate, in some
measure, the conduct of the czar; that is to say, to submit to the
judgment of the public, the several facts which I have related with the
most scrupulous exactness, and not only the facts themselves, but
likewise the various reports which were propagated in relation to them,
by authors of the first credit. Lamberti, the most impartial of any
writer on this subject and at the same time the most exact, and who has
confined himself to the simple narrative of the original and authentic
pieces, relating to the affairs of Europe, seems in this matter to have
departed from that impartiality and discernment for which he is so
remarkable; for he thus expresses himself.

'The czarina, ever anxious for the fortune of her own son, did not
suffer the czar to rest till she had obliged him to commence the
proceedings against the czarowitz, and to prosecute that unhappy prince
to death: and, what is still more extraordinary, the czar, after having
given him the knout (which is a kind of torture) with his own hand, was
himself his executioner, by cutting off his head, which was afterwards
so artfully joined to the body, that the separation could not be
perceived, when it was exposed to public view. Some little time
afterwards, the czarina's son died, to the inexpressible regret of her
and the czar. This latter, who had beheaded his own son, coming now to
reflect, that he had no successor, grew exceedingly ill-tempered. Much
about that time also, he was informed, that his spouse, the czarina, was
engaged in a secret and criminal correspondence with prince Menzikoff.
This, joined to the reflection, that she had been the cause of his
putting to death with his own hand his eldest son, made him conceive a
design to strip her of the imperial honours, and shut her up in a
convent, in the same manner as he had done his first wife, who is still
living there. It was a custom with the czar to keep a kind of diary of
his private thoughts in his pocket book, and he had accordingly entered
therein a memorandum of this his intention. The czarina having found
means to gain over to her interest all the pages of the czar's
bed-chamber, one of them finding his pocket-book, which he had
carelessly left on the table, brought it to Catherine, who upon reading
this memorandum, immediately sent for prince Menzikoff, and communicated
it to him, and, in a day or two afterwards, the czar was seized with a
violent distemper, of which he died. This distemper was attributed to
poison, on account of its being so sudden and violent, that it could not
be supposed to proceed from a natural cause, and that the horrible act
of poisoning was but too frequently used in Russia.'

These accusations, thus handed down by Lamberti, were soon spread
throughout Europe; and, as there still exist a great number of pieces,
both in print and manuscript, which may give a sanction to the belief of
this fact to the latest posterity, I think it is my duty to mention, in
this place, what is come to my knowledge from unexceptionable authority.

In the first place, then, I take it upon me to declare, that the person
who furnished Lamberti with this strange anecdote, was in fact a native
of Russia, but of a foreign extraction, and who himself did not reside
in that country, at the time this event happened, having left it several
years before. I was formerly acquainted with him; he had been in company
with Lamberti, at the little town of Nyon,[109] whither that writer had
retired, and where I myself have often been. This very man declared to
me, that he had never told this story to Lamberti, but in the light of a
report, which had been handed about at that time.

This example may suffice to shew, how easy it was in former times,
before the art of printing was found out, for one man to destroy the
reputation of another, in the minds of whole nations, by reason that
manuscript histories were in a few hands only, and not exposed
to general examination and censure, or of the observations of
contemporaries, as they now are. A single line in Tacitus or Sallust,
nay, even in the authors of the most fabulous legends was enough to
render a great prince odious to the half of mankind, and to perpetuate
his name with infamy to successive generations.

How was it possible that the czar could have beheaded his son with his
own hand, when extreme unction was administered to the latter in the
presence of the whole court? Was he dead when the sacred oil was poured
upon his head? When or how could this dissevered head have been rejoined
to its trunk? It is notorious, that the prince was not left alone a
single moment, from the first reading of his sentence to him to the
instant of his death.

Besides, this story of the czar's having had recourse to the sword,
acquits him at least of having made use of poison. I will allow, that it
is somewhat uncommon, that a young man in the vigour of his days should
die of a sudden fright, occasioned by hearing the sentence of his own
death read to him, and especially when it was a sentence that he
expected; but, after all, physicians will tell us that this is not a
thing impossible.

If the czar dispatched his son by poison, as so many authors would
persuade us, he by that means deprived himself of every advantage he
might expect from this fatal process, in convincing all Europe that he
had a right to punish every delinquent. He rendered all the reasons for
pronouncing the condemnation of the czarowitz suspected; and, in fact,
accused himself. If he was desirous of the death of his son, he was in
possession of full power to have caused the sentence to be put in
execution: would a man of any prudence then, would a sovereign, on whom
the eyes of all his neighbours were fixed, have taken the base and
dastardly method of poisoning the person, over whose devoted head he
himself already held the sword of justice? Lastly, would he have
suffered his memory to have been transmitted to posterity as an assassin
and a poisoner, when he could so easily have assumed the character of an
upright though severe judge?

It appears then, from all that has been delivered on this subject in the
preceding pages, that Peter was more the king than the parent; and that
he sacrificed his own son to the sentiments of the father and lawgiver
of his country, and to the interest of his people, who, without this
wholesome severity, were on the verge of relapsing again into that state
from which he had taken them. It is evident that he did not sacrifice
this son to the ambition of a step-mother, or to the son he had by her,
since he had often threatened the czarowitz to disinherit him, before
Catherine brought him that other son, whose infirm infancy gave signs of
a speedy death, which actually happened in a very short time afterwards.
Had Peter taken this important step merely to please his wife, he must
have been a fool, a madman, or a coward; neither of which, most
certainly, could be laid to his charge. But he foresaw what would be the
fate of his establishments, and of his new-born nation, if he had such a
successor as would not adopt his views. The event has verified this
foresight: the Russian empire is become famous and respectable
throughout Europe, from which it was before entirely separated; whereas,
had the czarowitz succeeded to the throne, every thing would have been
destroyed. In fine, when this catastrophe comes to be seriously
considered, the compassionate heart shudders, and the rigid applauds.

This great and terrible event is still fresh in the memories of mankind;
and it is frequently spoken of as a matter of so much surprise, that it
is absolutely necessary to examine what contemporary writers have said
of it. One of these hireling scribblers, who has taken on him the title
of historian, speaks thus of it in a work which he has dedicated to
count Bruhl, prime minister to his Polish majesty, whose name indeed may
seem to give some weight to what he advances. 'Russia was convinced that
the czarowitz owed his death to poison, which had been given him by his
mother-in-law.' But this accusation is overturned by the declaration
which the czar made to the duke of Holstein, that the empress Catherine
had advised him to confine his son in a monastery.

With regard to the poison which the empress is said to have given
afterwards to her husband, that story is sufficiently destroyed by the
simple relation of the affair of the page and pocket-book. What man
would think of making such a memorandum as this, 'I must remember to
confine my wife in a convent?' Is this a circumstance of so trivial a
nature, that it must be set down lest it should be forgotten? If
Catherine had poisoned her son-in-law and her husband she would have
committed crimes; whereas, so far from being suspected of cruelty, she
had a remarkable character for lenity and sweetness of temper.

It may now be proper to shew what was the first cause of the behaviour
of the czarowitz, of his flight, and of his death, and that of his
accomplices, who fell by the hands of the executioner. It was owing then
to mistaken notions in religion, and to a superstitious fondness for
priests and monks. That this was the real source from whence all his
misfortunes were derived, is sufficiently apparent from his own
confession, which we have already set before the reader, and in
particular, by that expression of the czar in his letter to his unhappy
son, 'A corrupt priesthood will be able to turn you at pleasure.'

The following is, almost word for word, the manner in which a certain
ambassador to the court of Russia explains these words.--Several
ecclesiastics, says he, fond of the ancient barbarous customs, and
regretting the authority they had lost by the nation having become more
civilized, wished earnestly to see prince Alexis on the throne, from
whose known disposition they expected a return of those days of
ignorance and superstition which were so dear to them. In the number of
these was Dozitheus, bishop of Rostow. This prelate feigned a revelation
from St. Demetrius, and that the saint had appeared to him, and had
assured him as from God himself, that the czar would not live above
three months; that the empress Eudocia, who was then confined in the
convent of Susdal (and had taken the veil under the name of sister
Helena), and the princess Mary the czar's sister, should ascend the
throne and reign jointly with prince Alexis. Eudocia and the princess
Mary were weak enough to credit this imposture, and were even so
persuaded of the truth of this prediction, that the former quitted her
habit and the convent, and throwing aside the name of sister Helena,
reassumed the imperial title and the ancient dress of the czarina's,
and caused the name of her rival Catherine to be struck out of the form
of prayer. And when the lady abbess of the convent opposed these
proceedings, Eudocia answered her haughtily--That as Peter had punished
the strelitzes who had insulted his mother, in like manner would prince
Alexis punish those who had offered an indignity to his. She caused the
abbess to be confined to her apartment. An officer named Stephen Glebo
was introduced into the convent; this man Eudocia made use of as the
instrument of her designs, having previously won him over to her
interest by heaping favours on him. Glebo caused Dozitheus's prediction
to be spread over the little town of Susdal, and the neighbourhood
thereof. But the three months being nearly expired, Eudocia reproached
the bishop with the czar's being still alive, 'My father's sins,'
answered Dozitheus, 'have been the cause of this; he is still in
purgatory, and has acquainted me therewith.' Upon this Eudocia caused a
thousand masses for the dead to be said, Dozitheus assuring her that
this would not fail of having the desired effect: but in about a month
afterwards, he came to her and told, that his father's head was already
out of purgatory; in a month afterwards he was freed as far as his
waist, so that then he only stuck in purgatory by his feet; but as soon
as they should be set free, which was the most difficult part of the
business, the czar would infallibly die.

The princess Mary, persuaded by Dozitheus, gave herself up to him, on
condition that his father should be immediately released from purgatory,
and the prediction accomplished, and Glebo continued his usual
correspondence with the old czarina.

It was chiefly on the faith of these predictions that the czarowitz
quitted the kingdom, and retired into a foreign country, to wait for the
death of his father. However the whole scheme was soon discovered;
Dozitheus and Glebo were seized; the letters of the princess Mary to
Dozitheus, and those of sister Helena to Glebo, were read in the open
senate. In consequence of which, the princess Mary was shut up in the
fortress of Schusselbourg, and the old czarina removed to another
convent, where she was kept a close prisoner. Dozitheus and Glebo,
together with the other accomplices of these idle and superstitious
intrigues, were put to the torture, as were likewise the confidants of
the czarowitz's flight. His confessor, his preceptor, and the steward of
his household, all died by the hands of the executioner.

Such then was the dear and fatal price at which Peter the Great
purchased the happiness of his people, and such were the numberless
obstacles he had to surmount in the midst of a long and dangerous war
without doors, and an unnatural rebellion at home. He saw one half of
his family plotting against him, the majority of the priesthood
obstinately bent to frustrate his designs, and almost the whole nation
for a long time opposing its own felicity, of which as yet it was not
become sensible. He had prejudices to overcome, and discontents to
sooth. In a word, there wanted a new generation formed by his care, who
would at length entertain the proper ideas of happiness and glory, which
their fathers were not able to comprehend or support.




CHAP. XXX.

    Works and establishments in 1718, and the following years.


Throughout the whole of the foregoing dreadful catastrophe, it appeared
clearly, that Peter had acted only as the father of his country, and
that he considered his people as his family. The punishments he had been
obliged to inflict on such of them, who had endeavoured to obstruct or
impede the happiness of the rest, were necessary, though melancholy
sacrifices, made to the general good.

1718.] This year, which was the epoch of the disinheriting and death of
his eldest son, was also that of the greatest advantage he procured to
his subjects, by establishing a general police hitherto unknown; by the
introduction or improvement of manufactures and works of every kind, by
opening new branches of trade, which now began to flourish, and by the
construction of canals, which joined rivers, seas, and people,
that nature had separated from each other. We have here none of
those striking events which charm common readers; none of those
court-intrigues which are the food of scandal and malice, nor of those
great revolutions which amaze the generality of mankind; but we behold
the real springs of public happiness, which the philosophic eye delights
to contemplate.

He now appointed a lieutenant-general of police over the whole empire,
who was to hold his court at Petersburg, and from thence preserve order
from one end of the kingdom to the other. Extravagance in dress, and the
still more dangerous extravagance of gaming, were prohibited under
severe penalties; schools for teaching arithmetic, which had been first
set on foot in 1716, were now established in many towns in Russia. The
hospitals, which had been began, were now finished, endowed, and filled
with proper objects.

To these we may add the several useful establishments which had been
projected some time before, and which were completed a few years
afterwards. The great towns were now cleared of those innumerable swarms
of beggars, who will not follow any other occupation but that of
importuning those who are more industrious than themselves, and who lead
a wretched and shameful life at the expense of others: an abuse too much
overlooked in other nations.

The rich were obliged to build regular and handsome houses in
Petersburg, agreeable to their circumstances, and, by a master-stroke of
police, the several materials were brought carriage free to the city, by
the barks and waggons which returned empty from the neighbouring
provinces.

Weights and measures were likewise fixed upon an uniform plan, in the
same manner as the laws. This uniformity, so much, but in vain desired,
in states that have for many ages been civilized, was established in
Russia without the least difficulty or murmuring; and yet we fancy that
this salutary regulation is impracticable amongst us.

The prices of the necessaries of life were also fixed. The city of
Petersburg was well lighted with lamps during the night; a convenience
which was first introduced in Paris by Louis XIV., and to which Rome is
still a stranger. Pumps were erected for supplying water in cases of
fire; the streets were well paved, and rails put up for the security of
foot passengers: in a word, every thing was provided that could minister
to safety, decency, and good order, and to the quicker dispatch and
convenience of the inland trade of the country. Several privileges were
granted to foreigners, and proper laws enacted to prevent the abuse of
those privileges. In consequence of these useful and salutary
regulations, Petersburg and Moscow put on a new face.

The iron and steel manufactories received additional improvements,
especially those which the czar had founded at about ten miles distance
from Petersburg, of which he himself was the first superintendant, and
wherein no less than a thousand workmen were employed immediately under
his eye. He went in person to give directions to those who farmed the
corn-mills, powder-mills, and mills for sawing timber, and to the
managers of the manufactories for cordage and sail-cloth, to the
brick-makers, slaters, and the cloth-weavers. Numbers of workmen in
every branch came from France to settle under him; these were the fruits
he reaped from his travels.

He established a board of trade, which was composed of one half natives,
and the other half foreigners, in order that justice might be equally
distributed to all artists and workmen. A Frenchman settled a
manufactory for making fine looking-glass at Petersburg, with the
assistance of prince Menzikoff. Another set up a loom for working
curious tapestry, after the manner of the Gobelins; and this manufactory
still meets with great encouragement. A third succeeded in making of
gold and silver thread, and the czar ordered that no more than four
thousand marks of gold or silver should be expended in these works in
the space of a year; by this means to prevent the too great consumption
of bullion in the kingdom.

He gave thirty thousand rubles, that is, about one hundred and fifty
thousand French livres,[110] together with all the materials and
instruments necessary for making the several kinds of woollen stuffs. By
this useful bounty he was enabled to clothe all his troops with the
cloth made in his own country; whereas, before that time, it was
purchased from Berlin and other foreign kingdoms.

They made as fine linen cloth in Moscow as in Holland; and at his death
there were in that capital and at Jaroslaw, no less than fourteen linen
and hempen manufactories.

It could certainly never be imagined, at the time that silk sold in
Europe for its weight in gold, that one day there would arise on the
banks of the lake Ladoga, in the midst of a frozen region, and among
unfrequented marshes, a magnificent and opulent city, where the silks of
Persia should be manufactured in as great perfection as at Ispahan.
Peter, however, undertook this great phenomenon in commerce, and
succeeded in the attempt. The working of iron mines was carried to their
highest degree of perfection; several other mines of gold and silver
were discovered, and the council of mines was appointed to examine and
determine, whether the working of these would bring in a profit adequate
to the expense.

But, to make so many different arts and manufactures flourish, and to
establish so many various undertakings, it was not alone sufficient to
grant patents, or to appoint inspectors: it was necessary that our
great founder should behold all these pass under his own eye in their
beginnings, and work at them with his own hands, in the same manner as
we have already seen him working at the construction, the rigging, and
the sailing of a ship. When canals were to be dug in marshy and almost
impassable grounds, he was frequently seen at the head of the workmen
digging the earth, and carrying it away himself.

In this same year (1718) he formed the plan of the canal and sluices of
Ladoga: this was intended to make a communication between the Neva and
another navigable river, in order for the more easy conveyance of
merchandize to Petersburg, without taking the great circuit of the lake
Ladoga, which, on account of the storms that prevailed on the coast, was
frequently impassable for barks or small vessels. Peter levelled the
ground himself, and they still preserve the tools which he used in
digging up and carrying off the earth. The whole court followed the
example of their sovereign, and persisted in a work, which, at the same
time, they looked upon as impracticable; and it was finished after his
death: for not one of his projects, which had been found possible to be
effected, was abandoned.

The great canal of Cronstadt, which is easily drained of its waters, and
wherein they careen and clean the men of war, was also began at the same
time that he was engaged in the proceedings against his son.

In this year also he built the new city of Ladoga. A short time
afterwards, he made the canal which joins the Caspian Sea to the gulf of
Finland and to the ocean. The boats, after sailing up the Wolga, came
first to the communication of two rivers, which he joined for that
purpose; from thence, by another canal, they enter into the lake of
Ilmen, and then fall into the canal of Ladoga, from whence goods and
merchandizes may be conveyed by sea to all parts of the world.

In the midst of these labours, which all passed under his inspection, he
carried his views from Kamschatka to the most eastern limits of his
empire, and caused two forts to be built in these regions, which were so
long unknown to the rest of the world. In the meantime, a body of
engineers, who were draughted from the marine academy established in
1715, were sent to make the tour of the empire, in order to form exact
charts thereof, and lay before mankind the immense extent of country
which he had civilized and enriched.




CHAP. XXXI.

    Of the trade of Russia.


The Russian trade without doors was in a manner annihilated before the
reign of Peter. He restored it anew, after his accession to the throne.
It is notorious, that the current of trade has undergone several changes
in the world. The south part of Russia was before the time of Tamerlane,
the staple of Greece, and even of the Indies; and the Genoese were the
principal factors. The Tanais and the Boristhenes were loaded with the
productions of Asia: but when Tamerlane, towards the end of the
fourteenth century, had conquered the Taurican Chersonesus, afterwards
called Crimea or Crim Tartary, and when the Turks became masters of
Azoph, this great branch of trade was totally destroyed. Peter formed
the design of reviving it, by getting possession of Azoph; but the
unfortunate campaign of Pruth wrested this city out of his hands, and
with it all his views on the Black Sea: nevertheless he had it still in
his power to open as extensive a road to commerce through the Caspian
Sea. The English who, in the end of the fifteenth, and beginning of the
sixteenth century, had opened a trade to Archangel, had endeavoured to
do the same likewise by the Caspian Sea, but failed in all their
attempts for this purpose.

It has been already observed, that the father of Peter the Great caused
a ship to be built in Holland, to trade from Astracan to the coast of
Persia. This vessel was burnt by the rebel Stenkorazin, which put an
immediate stop to any views of trading on a fair footing with the
Persians. The Armenians, who are the factors of that part of Asia, were
received by Peter the Great into Astracan; every thing was obliged to
pass through their hands, and they reaped all the advantage of that
trade; as is the case with the Indian traders, and the Banians, and with
the Turks, as well as several nations in Christendom, and the Jews: for
those who have only one way of living, are generally very expert in that
art on which they depend for a support; and others pay a voluntary
tribute to that knowledge in which they know themselves deficient.

Peter had already found a remedy for this inconvenience, in the treaty
which he made with the sophi of Persia, by which all the silk, which was
not used for the manufactories in that kingdom, was to be delivered to
the Armenians of Astracan, and by them to be transported into Russia.

The troubles which arose in Persia soon overturned this arrangement; and
in the course of this history, we shall see how the sha, or emperor of
Persia, Hussein, when persecuted by the rebels, implored the assistance
of Peter; and how that monarch, after having supported a difficult war
against the Turks and the Swedes, entered Persia, and subjected three of
its provinces. But to return to the article of trade.


_Of the Trade with China._

The undertaking of establishing a trade with China seemed to promise the
greatest advantages. Two vast empires, bordering on each other, and each
reciprocally possessing what the other stood in need of, seemed to be
both under the happy necessity of opening a useful correspondence,
especially after the treaty of peace, so solemnly ratified between these
two empires in the year 1689, according to our way of reckoning.

The first foundation of this trade had been laid in the year 1653. There
was at that time two companies of Siberian and Bukarian families settled
in Siberia. Their caravans travelled through the Calmuck plains; after
they had crossed the deserts of Chinese Tartary, and made a considerable
profit by their trade; but the troubles which happened in the country of
the Calmucks, and the disputes between the Russians and the Chinese, in
regard to the frontiers, put a stop to this commerce.

After the peace of 1689, it was natural for the two great nations to fix
on some neutral place, whither all the goods should be carried. The
Siberians, like all other nations, stood more in need of the Chinese,
than these latter did of them; accordingly permission was asked of the
emperor of China, to send caravans to Pekin, which was readily granted.
This happened in the beginning of the present century.

It is worthy of observation, that the emperor Camhi had granted
permission for a Russian church in the suburbs of Pekin; which church
was to be served by Siberian priests, the whole at the emperor's own
expense, who was so indulgent to cause this church to be built for the
accommodation of several families of eastern Siberia; some of whom had
been prisoners before the peace of 1680, and the others were adventurers
from their own country, who would not return back again after the peace
of Niptchou. The agreeable climate of Pekin, the obliging manners of the
Chinese, and the ease with which they found a handsome living,
determined them to spend the rest of their days in China. The small
Greek church could not become dangerous to the peace of the empire, as
those of the Jesuits have been to that of other nations; and moreover,
the emperor Camhi was a favourer of liberty of conscience. Toleration
has, in all times, been the established custom in Asia, as it was in
former times all over the world, till the reign of the Roman emperor
Theodosius I. The Russian families, thus established in China, having
intermarried with the natives, have since quitted the Christian
religion, but their church still subsists.

It was stipulated, that this church should be for the use of those who
come with the Siberian caravans, to bring furs and other commodities
wanted at Pekin. The voyage out and home, and the stay in the country,
generally took up three years. Prince Gagarin, governor of Siberia, was
twenty years at the head of this trade. The caravans were sometimes very
numerous; and it was difficult to keep the common people, who made the
greatest number, within proper bounds.

They passed through the territories of a Laman priest, who is a kind of
Tartarian sovereign, resides on the sea-coast of Orkon, and has the
title of Koutoukas: he is the vicar of the grand Lama, but has rendered
himself independent, by making some change in the religion of the
country, where the Indian tenet of metempsychosis is the prevailing
opinion. We cannot find a more apt comparison for this priest than in
the bishops of Lubeck and Osnaburg, who have shaken off the dominion of
the church of Rome. The caravans, in their march, sometimes committed
depredations on the territories of this Tartarian prelate, as they did
also on those of the Chinese. This irregular conduct proved an
impediment to the trade of those parts; for the Chinese threatened to
shut the entrance into their empire against the Russians, unless a stop
was put to these disorders. The trade with China was at that time very
advantageous to the Russians, who brought from thence gold, silver, and
precious stones, in return for their merchandize. The largest ruby in
the world was brought out of China to prince Gagarin, who sent it to
prince Menzikoff; and it is now one of the ornaments of the imperial
crown.

The exactions put in practice by prince Gagarin were of great prejudice
to that trade, which had brought him so much riches; and, at length,
they ended in his own destruction; for he was accused before the court
of justice, established by the czar, and sentenced to lose his head, a
year after the condemnation of the czarowitz, and the execution of all
those who had been his accomplices.

About the same time, the emperor Camhi, perceiving his health to decay,
and knowing, by experience, that the European mathematicians were much
more learned in their art than those of his own nation, thought that
the European physicians must also have more knowledge than those of
Pekin, and therefore sent a message to the czar, by some ambassadors who
were returning from China to Petersburg, requesting him to send him one
of his physicians. There happened at that time to be an English surgeon
at Petersburg, who offered to undertake the journey in that character;
and accordingly set out in company with a new ambassador, and one
Laurence Lange, who has left a description of that journey. This embassy
was received, and all the expense of it defrayed with great pomp, by
Camhi. The surgeon, at his arrival, found the emperor in perfect health,
and gained the reputation of a most skilful physician. The caravans who
followed this embassy made prodigious profits; but fresh excesses having
been committed by this very caravan, the Chinese were so offended
thereat, that they sent back Lange, who was at that time resident from
the czar at the Chinese court, and with him all the Russian merchants
established there.

The emperor Camhi dying, his son Yontchin, who had as great a share of
wisdom, and more firmness than his father, and who drove the Jesuits out
of his empire, as the czar had done from Russia in 1718, concluded a
treaty with Peter, by which the Russian caravans were no more to trade
on the frontiers of the two empires. There are only certain factors,
dispatched in the name of the emperor or empress of Russia, and these
have liberty to enter Pekin, where they are lodged in a vast house,
which the emperor of China formerly assigned for the reception of the
envoys from Corea: but it is a considerable time since either caravans
or factors have been sent from Russia thither so that the trade is now
in a declining way, but may possibly soon be revived.


_Of the Trade of_ PETERSBURG, _and the other ports of the_ RUSSIAN
EMPIRE.

There were at this time above two hundred foreign vessels traded to the
new capital, in the space of a year. This trade has continued
increasing, and has frequently brought in five millions (French money)
to the crown. This was greatly more than the interest of the money which
this establishment had cost. This trade, however, greatly diminished
that of Archangel, and was precisely what the founder desired; for the
port of Archangel is too dangerous, and at too great distance from other
ports: besides that, a trade which is carried on immediately under the
eye of an assiduous sovereign, is always the most advantageous. That of
Livonia continued still on the same footing. The trade of Russia in
general has proved very successful; its ports have received from one
thousand to twelve hundred vessels in a year, and Peter discovered the
happy expedient of joining utility to glory.




CHAP. XXXII.

    Of the laws.


It is well known, that good laws are scarce, and that the due execution
of them is still more so. The greater the extent of any state, and the
variety of people of which it is composed, the more difficult it is to
unite them by the same body of laws. The father of czar Peter formed a
digest or code under the title of _Oulogenia_, which was actually
printed, but it by no means answered the end intended.

Peter, in the course of his travels, had collected materials for
repairing this great structure, which was falling to decay in many of
its parts. He gathered many useful hints from the governments of
Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany, and France, selecting from each of
these different nations what he thought most suitable to his own.

There was a court of boyards or great men, who determined all matters
_en dernier ressort_. Rank and birth alone gave a seat in this assembly;
but the czar thought that knowledge was likewise requisite, and
therefore this court was dissolved.

He then instituted a procurator-general, assisted by four assistors, in
each of the governments of the empire. These were to overlook the
conduct of the judges, whose decrees were subject to an appeal to the
senate which he established. Each of those judges was furnished with a
copy of the _Oulogenia_, with additions and necessary alterations, until
a complete body of laws could be formed.

It was forbid to these judges to receive any fees, which, however
moderate, are always an abusive tax on the fortunes and properties of
those concerned in suits of law. The czar also took care that the
expenses of the court were moderate, and the decisions speedy. The
judges and their clerks had salaries appointed them out of the public
treasury, and were not suffered to purchase their offices.

It was in the year 1718, at the very time that he was engaged in the
process against his son, that he made the chief part of these
regulations. The greatest part of the laws he enacted were borrowed from
those of the Swedes, and he made no difficulty to admit to places in his
courts of judicature such Swedish prisoners who were well versed in the
laws of their own country, and who, having learnt the Russian language,
were willing to continue in that kingdom.

The governor of each province and his assistors had the cognizance of
private causes within such government; from them there was an appeal to
the senate; and if any one, after having been condemned by the senate,
appealed to the czar himself, and such appeal was found unjust, he was
punished with death: but to mitigate the rigour of this law, the czar
created a master of the requests, who received the petitions of those
who had affairs depending in the senate, or in the inferior courts,
concerning which the laws then in force were not sufficiently
explanatory.

At length, in 1722, he completed his new code, prohibiting all the
judges, under pain of death, to depart therefrom in their decrees, or to
set up their own private opinions in place of the general statutes. This
dreadful ordonnance was publicly fixed up, and still remains in all the
courts of judicature of the empire.

He erected every thing anew; there was not, even to the common affairs
of society, aught but what was his work. He regulated the degrees
between man and man, according to their posts and employments, from the
admiral and the field-marshal to the ensign, without any regard to
birth.

Having always in his own mind, and willing to imprint it on those of his
subjects, that services are preferable to pedigree, a certain rank was
likewise fixed for the women; and she who took a seat in a public
assembly, that did not properly belong to her, was obliged to pay a
fine.

By a still more useful regulation, every private soldier, on being made
an officer, instantly became a gentleman; and a nobleman, if his
character had been impeached in a court of justice, was degraded to a
plebeian.

After the settling of these several laws and regulations, it happened
that the increase of towns, wealth, and population in the empire, new
undertakings, and the creation of new employs, necessarily introduced a
multitude of new affairs and unforeseen cases, which were all
consequences of that success which attended the czar in the general
reformation of his dominions.

The empress Elizabeth completed the body of laws which her father had
begun, in which she gave the most lively proofs of that mildness and
clemency for which she was so justly famed.




CHAP. XXXIII.

    Of Religion.


At this time Peter laboured more than ever to reform the clergy. He had
abolished the patriarchal office, and by this act of authority had
alienated the minds of the ecclesiastics. He was determined that the
imperial power should be free and absolute, and that of the church
respected, but submissive. His design was, to establish a council of
religion, which should always subsist, but dependent on the sovereign,
and that it should give no laws to the church, but such as should be
approved of by the head of the state, of which the church was a part. He
was assisted in this undertaking by the archbishop of Novogorod, named
Theophanes Procop, or Procopowitz, i.e. son of Procop.

This prelate was a person of great learning and sagacity: his travels
through the different parts of Europe had afforded him opportunities of
remarks on the several abuses which reign amongst them. The czar, who
had himself been a witness of the same, had this great advantage in
forming all his regulations, that he was possessed of an unlimited power
to choose what was useful, and reject what was dangerous. He laboured,
in concert with the archbishop, in the years 1718 and 1719, to effect
his design. He established a perpetual synod, to be composed of twelve
members, partly bishops, and partly archpriests, all to be chosen by the
sovereign. This college was afterwards augmented to fourteen.

The motives of this establishment were explained by the czar in a
preliminary discourse. The chief and most remarkable of these was, 'That
under the administration of a college of priests, there was less danger
of troubles and insurrections, than under the government of a single
head of the church; because the common people, who are always prone to
superstition, might, by seeing one head of the church, and another of
the state, be led to believe that they were in fact two different
powers.' And hereupon he cites as an example, the divisions which so
long subsisted between the empire and the papal see, and which stained
so many kingdoms with blood.

Peter thought, and openly declared, that the notion of two powers in a
state, founded on the allegory of the two swords, mentioned in the
apostles, was absurd and erroneous.

This court was invested with the ecclesiastical power of regulating all
penances, and examining into the morals and capacity of those nominated
by the court to bishoprics, to pass judgment _en dernier ressort_ in all
causes relating to religion, in which it was the custom formerly to
appeal to the patriarch, and also to take cognizance of the revenues of
monasteries, and the distribution of alms.

This synod had the title of _most holy_, the same which the patriarchs
were wont to assume, and in fact the czar seemed to have preserved the
patriarchal dignity, but divided among fourteen members, who were all
dependant on the crown, and were to take an oath of obedience, which the
patriarchs never did. The members of this holy synod, when met in
assembly, had the same rank as the senators; but they were like the
senate, all dependant on the prince. But neither this new form of church
administration, nor the ecclesiastical code, were in full vigour till
four years after its institution, namely in 1722. Peter at first
intended, that the synod should have the presentation of those whom they
thought most worthy to fill the vacant bishoprics. These were to be
nominated by the emperor, and consecrated by the synod, Peter frequently
presided in person at the assembly. One day that a vacant see was to be
filled, the synod observed to the emperor, that they had none but
ignorant persons to present to his majesty: 'Well, then,' replied the
czar, 'you have only to pitch upon the most honest man, he will be worth
two learned ones.'

It is to be observed, that the Greek church has none of that motley
order called secular abbots. The _petit collet_ is unknown there,
otherwise than by the ridiculousness of its character, but by another
abuse (as every thing in this world must be subject to abuse) the
bishops and prelates are all chosen from the monastic orders. The first
monks were only laymen, partly devotees, and partly fanatics, who
retired into the deserts, where they were at length gathered together by
St. Basil, who gave them a body of rules, and then they took vows, and
were reckoned as the lower order of the church, which is the first step
to be taken to arise at higher dignities. It was this that filled all
Greece and Asia with monks. Russia was overrun with them. They became
rich, powerful, and though excessively ignorant, they were, at the
accession of Peter to the throne, almost the only persons who knew how
to write. Of this knowledge they made such an abuse, when struck and
confounded with the new regulations which Peter introduced in all the
departments of government, that he was obliged in 1703 to issue an
edict, forbidding the use of pen and ink to the monks, without an
express order from the archimandrite, or prior of the convent, who in
that case was responsible for the behaviour of those to whom he granted
this indulgence.

Peter designed to make this a standing law, and at first he intended,
that no one should be admitted into any order under fifty years of age;
but that appeared too late an age, as the life of man being in general
so limited, there was not time sufficient for such persons to acquire
the necessary qualifications for being made bishops; and therefore, with
the advice of his synod, he placed it at thirty years complete, but
never under; at the same time expressly prohibiting any person
exercising the profession of a soldier, or an husbandman, to enter into
a convent, without an immediate order from the emperor, or the synod,
and to admit no married man upon any account, even though divorced from
his wife; unless that wife should at the same time embrace a religious
life of her own pure will, and that neither of them had any children. No
person in actual employ under government can take the habit, without an
express order of the state for that purpose. Every monk is obliged to
work with his own hands at some trade. The nuns are never to go without
the walls of their convent, and at the age of fifty are to receive the
tonsure, as did the deaconesses of the primitive church; but if, before
undergoing that ceremony, they have an inclination to marry, they are
not only allowed, but even exhorted so to do. An admirable regulation in
a country where population is of infinitely greater use than a monastic
life.

Peter was desirous that those unhappy females, whom God has destined to
people a kingdom, and who, by a mistaken devotion, annihilated in
cloisters that race of which they would otherwise become mothers, should
at least be of some service to society, which they thus injure; and
therefore ordered, that they should all be employed in some handy works,
suitable to their sex. The empress Catherine took upon herself the care
of sending for several handicrafts over from Brabant and Holland, whom
she distributed among these convents, and, in a short time, they
produced several kinds of work, which the empress and her ladies always
wore as a part of their dress.

There cannot perhaps be any thing conceived more prudent than these
institutions; but what merits the attention of all ages, is the
regulation which Peter made himself, and which he addressed to the synod
in 1724. The ancient ecclesiastical institution is there very learnedly
explained, and the indolence of the monkish life admirably well exposed;
and he not only recommends an application to labour and industry, but
even commands it; and that the principal occupation of those people
should be, to assist and relieve the poor. He likewise orders, that sick
and infirm soldiers shall be quartered in the convents, and that a
certain number of monks shall be set apart to take care of them, and
that the most strong and healthy of these shall cultivate the lands
belonging to those convents. He orders the same regulations to be
observed in the monasteries for women, and that the strongest of these
shall take care of the gardens, and the rest to wait on sick or infirm
women, who shall be brought from the neighbouring country into the
convents for that purpose. He also enters into the minutest details
relating to these services; and lastly, he appoints certain monasteries
of both sexes for the reception and education of orphans.

In reading this ordinance of Peter the Great, which was published the
31st January, 1724, one would imagine it to have been framed by a
minister of state and a father of the church.

Almost all the customs in the Russian church are different from those of
ours. As soon as a man is made a sub-deacon, we prohibit him from
marrying, and he is accounted guilty of sacrilege if he proves
instrumental to the population of his country. On the contrary, when any
one has taken a sub-deacon's order in Russia, he is obliged likewise to
take a wife, and then may rise to the rank of priest, and arch-priest,
but he cannot be made a bishop, unless he is a widower and a monk.

Peter forbid all parish-priests from bringing up more than one son to
the service of the church, unless it was particularly desired by the
parishioners; and this he did, lest a numerous family might in time come
to tyrannize over the parish. We may perceive in these little
circumstances relating to church-government, that the legislator had
always the good of the state in view, and that he took every precaution
to make the clergy properly respected, without being dangerous, and
that they should be neither contemptible nor powerful.

In those curious memoirs, composed by an officer who was a particular
favourite of Peter the Great, I find the following anecdote:--One day a
person reading to the czar that number of the English Spectator, in
which a parallel is drawn between him and Lewis XIV. 'I do not think,'
said Peter, 'that I deserve the preference that is here given me over
that monarch; but I have been fortunate enough to have the superiority
over him in one essential point, namely, that of having obliged my
clergy to live in peace and submission; whereas my brother Lewis has
suffered himself to be ruled by his.'

A prince, whose days were almost wholly spent in the fatigues of war,
and his nights in the compiling laws for the better government of so
large an empire, and in directing so many great labours, through a space
of two thousand leagues, must stand in need of some hours of amusement.
Diversions at that time were neither so noble or elegant as they now
are, and therefore we must not wonder if Peter amused himself with the
entertainment of the sham conclave, of which mention has been already
made, and other diversions of the same stamp, which were frequently at
the expense of the Romish church, to which he had a great dislike, and
which was very pardonable in a prince of the Greek communion, who was
determined to be master in his own dominions. He likewise gave several
entertainments of the same kind at the expense of the monks of his own
country; but of the ancient monks, whose follies and bigotry he wished
to ridicule, while he strove to reform the new.

We have already seen that previous to his publishing his church-laws,
he created one of his fools pope, and celebrated the feast of the sham
conclave. This fool, whose name was Jotof, was between eighty and
ninety. The czar took it into his head to make him marry an old widow of
his own age, and to have their nuptials publicly solemnized; he caused
the invitation to the marriage guests to be made by four persons who
were remarkable for stammering. The bride was conducted to church by
decrepit old men, four of the most bulky men that could be found in
Russia acted as running footmen. The music were seated in a waggon drawn
by bears, whom they every now and then pricked with goads of iron, and
who, by their roaring, formed a full base, perfectly agreeable to the
concert in the cart. The married couple received the benediction in the
cathedral from the hands of a deaf and blind priest, who, to appear more
ridiculous, wore a large pair of spectacles on his nose. The procession,
the wedding, the marriage-feast, the undressing and putting to bed of
the bride and bridegroom, were all of a piece with the rest of this
burlesque ceremony.

We may perhaps be apt to look upon this as a trivial and ridiculous
entertainment for a great prince; but is it more so than our carnival?
or to see five or six hundred persons with masks on their faces, and
dressed in the most ridiculous manner, skipping and jumping about
together, for a whole night in a large room, without speaking a word to
each other?

In fine, were the ancient feasts of the fools and the ass, and the abbot
of the cuckolds, which were formerly celebrated in our churches, much
superior, or did our comedies of the foolish mother exhibit marks of a
greater genius?




CHAP. XXXIV.

    The congress of Aland or Oeland. Death of Charles XII., &c. The
    treaty of Nystadt.


These immense labours, this minute review of the whole Russian empire,
and the melancholy proceedings against his unhappy son, were not the
only objects which demanded the attention of the czar; it was necessary
to secure himself without doors, at the same time that he was settling
order and tranquillity within. The war with Sweden was still carried on,
though faintly, in hopes of approaching peace.

It is a known fact, that in the year 1717, cardinal Alberoni, prime
minister to Philip V. of Spain, and baron Gortz, who had gained an
entire ascendant over the mind of Charles XII. had concerted a project
to change the face of affairs in Europe, by effecting a reconciliation
between this last prince and the czar, driving George I. from the
English throne, and replacing Stanislaus on that of Poland, while
cardinal Alberoni was to procure the regency of France for his master
Philip. Gortz, as has been already observed, had opened his mind on this
head to the czar himself. Alberoni had begun a negotiation with prince
Kourakin, the czar's ambassador at the Hague, by means of the Spanish
ambassador, Baretti Landi, a native of Mantua, who had, like the
cardinal, quitted his own country to live in Spain.

Thus a set of foreigners were about to overturn the general system, for
masters under whose dominion they were not born, or rather for
themselves. Charles XII. gave into all these projects, and the czar
contented himself with examining them in private. Since the year 1716 he
had made only feeble efforts against Sweden, and those rather with a
view to oblige that kingdom to purchase peace by restoring those places
it had taken in the course of the war, than with an intent to crush it
altogether.

The baron Gortz, ever active and indefatigable in his projects, had
prevailed on the czar to send plenipotentiaries to the island of Oeland
to set on foot a treaty of peace. Bruce, a Scotchman, and grand master
of the ordnance in Russia, and the famous Osterman, who was afterwards
at the head of affairs, arrived at the place appointed for the congress
exactly at the time that the czarowitz was put under arrest at Moscow.
Gortz and Gillembourg were already there on the part of Charles XII.
both impatient to bring about a reconciliation between that prince and
Peter, and to revenge themselves on the king of England. It was an
extraordinary circumstance that there should be a congress, and no
cessation of arms. The czar's fleet still continued cruising on the
coasts of Sweden, and taking the ships of that nation. Peter thought by
keeping up hostilities to hasten the conclusion of a peace, of which he
knew the Swedes stood greatly in need, and which must prove highly
glorious to the conqueror.

Notwithstanding the little hostilities which still continued, every
thing bespoke the speedy approach of peace. The preliminaries began by
mutual acts of generosity, which produce stronger effects than many
hand-writings. The czar sent back without ransom marshal Erenschild,
whom he had taken prisoner with his own hands, and Charles in return did
the same by Trubetskoy and Gallowin, who had continued prisoners in
Sweden ever since the battle of Narva.

The negotiations now advanced apace, and a total change was going to be
made in the affairs of the North. Gortz proposed to the czar to put the
duchy of Mecklenburg into his hands. Duke Charles, its sovereign, who
had married a daughter of czar John, Peter's elder brother, was at
variance with the nobility of the country, who had taken arms against
him. And Peter, who looked upon that prince as his brother-in-law, had
an army in Mecklenburg ready to espouse his cause. The king of England,
elector of Hanover, declared on the side of the nobles. Here was another
opportunity of mortifying the king of England, by putting Peter in
possession of Mecklenburg, who, being already master of Livonia, would
by this means, in a short time, become more powerful in Germany than any
of its electors. The duchy of Courland was to be given to the duke of
Mecklenburg, as an equivalent for his own, together with a part of
Prussia at the expense of Poland, who was to have Stanislaus again for
her king. Bremen and Verden were to revert to Sweden; but these
provinces could not be wrested out of the hands of the king of England
but by force of arms; accordingly Gortz's project was (as we have
already said) to effect a firm union between Peter and Charles XII., and
that not only by the bands of peace, but by an offensive alliance, in
which case they were jointly to send an army into Scotland. Charles XII.
after having made himself master of Norway, was to make a descent on
Great Britain, and he fondly imagined he should be able to set a new
sovereign on the throne of those kingdoms, after having replaced one of
his own choosing on that of Poland. Cardinal Alberoni promised both
Peter and Charles to furnish them with subsidies. The fall of the king
of England would, it was supposed, draw with it that of his ally, the
regent of France, who being thus deprived of all support, was to fall a
victim to the victorious arms of Spain, and the discontent of the French
nation.

Alberoni and Gortz now thought themselves secure of totally overturning
the system of Europe, when a cannon ball from the bastions of
Frederickshal in Norway confounded all their mighty projects. Charles
XII. was killed, the Spanish fleet was beaten by that of England, the
conspiracy which had been formed in France was discovered and quelled,
Alberoni was driven out of Spain, and Gortz was beheaded at Stockholm;
and of all this formidable league, so lately made, the czar alone
retained his credit, who by not having put himself in the power of any
one, gave law to all his neighbours.

At the death of Charles XII. there was a total change of measures in
Sweden. Charles had governed with a despotic power, and his sister
Ulrica was elected Queen on express condition of renouncing arbitrary
government. Charles intended to form an alliance with the czar against
England and its allies, and the new government of Sweden now joined
those allies against the czar.

The congress at Oeland, however, was not broken up; but the Swedes, now
in league with the English, flattered themselves that the fleets of that
nation sent into the Baltic would procure them a more advantageous
peace. A body of Hanoverian troops entered the dominions of the duke of
Mecklenburg (Feb. 1716.), but were soon driven from thence by the czar's
forces.

Peter likewise had a body of troops in Poland, which kept in awe both
the party of Augustus, and that of Stanislaus; and as to Sweden, he had
a fleet always ready, either to make a descent on their coasts, or to
oblige the Swedish government to hasten matters in the congress. This
fleet consisted of twelve large ships of the line, and several lesser
ones, besides frigates and galleys. The czar served on board this fleet
as vice-admiral, under the command of admiral Apraxin.

A part of this fleet signalized itself in the beginning against a
Swedish squadron, and, after an obstinate engagement, took one ship of
the line, and two frigates. Peter, who constantly endeavoured, by every
possible means, to encourage and improve the navy he had been at so much
pains to establish, gave, on this occasion, sixty thousand French
livres[111] in money among the officers of this squadron, with several
gold medals, besides conferring marks of honour on those who principally
distinguished themselves.

About this time also the English fleet under admiral Norris came up the
Baltic, in order to favour the Swedes. Peter, who well knew how far he
could depend on his new navy, was not to be frightened by the English,
but boldly kept the sea, and sent to know of the English admiral if he
was come only as a friend to the Swedes, or as an enemy to Russia? The
admiral returned for answer, that he had not as yet any positive orders
from his court on that head: however Peter, notwithstanding this
equivocal reply, continued to keep the sea with his fleet.

The English fleet, which in fact was come thither only to shew itself,
and thereby induce the czar to grant more favourable conditions of peace
to the Swedes, went to Copenhagen, and the Russians made some descents
on the Swedish coast, and even in the neighbourhood of Copenhagen, (July
1719.) where they destroyed some copper mines, burnt about fifteen
thousand houses, and did mischief enough to make the Swedes heartily
wish for a speedy conclusion of the peace.

Accordingly the new queen of Sweden pressed a renewal of the
negotiations; Osterman himself was sent to Stockholm, and matters
continued in this situation during the whole of the year 1719.

The following year the prince of Hesse, husband to the queen of Sweden,
and now become king, in virtue of her having yielded up the sovereign
power in his favour, began his reign by sending a minister to the court
of Petersburg, in order to hasten the so much desired peace; but the war
was still carried on in the midst of these negotiations.

The English fleet joined that of the Swedes, but did not yet commit any
hostilities, as there was no open rupture between the courts of Russia
and England, and admiral Norris even offered his master's mediation
towards bringing about a peace; but as this offer was made with arms in
hand, it rather retarded than facilitated the negotiations. The coasts
of Sweden, and those of the new Russian provinces in the Baltic, are so
situated, that the former lay open to every insult, while the latter are
secured by their difficult access. This was clearly seen when admiral
Norris, after having thrown off the mask, (June 1720.) made a descent in
conjunction with the Swedish fleet on a little island in the province of
Esthonia, called Narguen, which belonged to the czar, where they only
burnt a peasant's house; but the Russians at the same time made a
descent near Wasa, and burnt forty-one villages, and upwards of one
thousand houses, and did an infinite deal of damage to the country round
about. Prince Galitzin boarded and took four Swedish frigates, and the
English admiral seemed to have come only to be spectator of that pitch
of glory to which the czar had raised his infant navy; for he had but
just shewn himself in those seas, when the Swedish frigates were carried
in triumph into the harbour of Cronslot before Petersburg.[112] On this
occasions methinks the English did too much if they came only as
mediators, and too little if as enemies.

Nov. 1720.] At length, the new king of Sweden demanded a cessation of
arms; and as he found the menaces of the English had stood him in no
stead, he had recourse to the duke of Orleans, the French regent; and
this prince, at once an ally of Russia and Sweden, had the honour of
effecting a reconciliation between them. (Feb. 1721.) He sent Campredon,
his plenipotentiary, to the court of Petersburg, and from thence to that
of Stockholm. A congress was opened at Nystadt,[113] but the czar would
not agree to a cessation of arms till matters were on the point of being
concluded and the plenipotentiaries ready to sign. He had an army in
Finland ready to subdue the rest of that province, and his fleets were
continually threatening the Swedish coasts, so that he seemed absolute
master of dictating the terms of peace; accordingly they subscribed to
whatever he thought fit to demand. By this treaty he was to remain in
perpetual possession of all that his arms had conquered, from the
borders of Courland to the extremity of the gulf of Finland, and from
thence again of the whole extent of the country of Kexholm, and that
narrow slip of Finland which stretches out to the northward of the
neighbourhood of Kexholm; so that he remained master of all Livonia,
Esthonia, Ingria, Carelia, with the country of Wybourg, and the
neighbouring isles, which secured to him the sovereignty of the sea, as
likewise of the isles of Oessel, Dago, Mona, and several others: the
whole forming an extent of three thousand leagues of country, of unequal
breadth, and which altogether made a large kingdom, that proved the
reward of twenty years' immense pains and labour.

The peace was signed at Nystadt the 10th September, 1721, N. S. by the
Russian minister Osterman, and general Bruce.

Peter was the more rejoiced at that event, as it freed him from the
necessity of keeping such large armies on the frontiers of Sweden, as
also from any apprehensions on the part of England, or of the
neighbouring states, and left him at full liberty to exert his whole
attention to the modelling of his empire, in which he had already made
so successful a beginning, and to cherish arts and commerce, which he
had introduced among his subjects, at the expense of infinite labour and
industry.

In the first transports of his satisfaction, we find him writing in
these terms to his plenipotentiaries; 'You have drawn up the treaty as
if we ourself had dictated and sent it to you to offer the Swedes to
sign. This glorious event shall be ever present to our remembrance.'

All degrees of people, throughout the Russian empire, gave proofs of
their satisfaction, by the most extraordinary rejoicings of all kinds,
and particularly at Petersburg. The triumphal festivals, with which the
czar had entertained his people during the course of the war, were
nothing to compare to these rejoicings for the peace, which every one
hailed with unutterable satisfaction. The peace itself was the most
glorious of all his triumphs; and what pleased more than all the pompous
shows on the occasion, was a free pardon and general release granted to
all prisoners, and a general remission of all sums due to the royal
treasury for taxes throughout the whole empire, to the day of the
publication of the peace. In consequence of which a multitude of
unhappy wretches, who had been confined in prison, were set at
liberty, excepting only those guilty of highway-robbery, murder, or
treason.[114]

It was at this time that the senate decreed Peter the titles of _Great_,
_Emperor_, and _Father of his Country_. Count Golofkin, the high
chancellor, made a speech to the czar in the great cathedral, in the
name of all the orders of the state, the senators crying aloud, _Long
live our emperor and father!_ in which acclamations they were joined by
the united voice of all the people present. The ministers of France,
Germany, Poland, Denmark, and the states-general, waited on him, with
their congratulations, on the titles lately bestowed on him, and
formally acknowledged for emperor him who had been always publicly known
in Holland by that title, ever since the battle of Pultowa. The names of
_Father_, and of _Great_, were glorious epithets, which no one in Europe
could dispute him; that of _Emperor_ was only a honorary title, given by
custom to the sovereigns of Germany, as titular kings of the Romans; and
it requires time before such appellations come to be formally adopted by
those courts where forms of state and real glory are different things.
But Peter was in a short time after acknowledged emperor by all the
states of Europe, excepting only that of Poland, which was still divided
by factions, and the pope, whose suffrage was become of very little
significance, since the court of Rome had lost its credit in proportion
as other nations became more enlightened.




CHAP. XXXV.

    Conquests in Persia.


The situation of Russia is such, as necessarily obliges her to keep up
certain connexions with all the nations that lie in the fifth degree of
north latitude. When under a bad administration, she was a prey by turns
to the Tartars, the Swedes, and the Poles; but when governed by a
resolute and vigorous prince, she became formidable to all her
neighbours. Peter began his reign by an advantageous treaty with the
Chinese. He had waged war at one and the same time against the Swedes
and the Turks, and now prepared to lead his victorious armies into
Persia.

At this time Persia began to fall into that deplorable state, in which
we now behold her. Let us figure to ourselves the thirty years' war in
Germany, the times of the league, those of the massacre of St.
Bartholomew, and the reigns of Charles VI. and of king John in France,
the civil wars in England, the long and horrible ravages of the whole
Russian empire by the Tartars, or their invasion of China; and then we
shall have some slight conception of the miseries under which the
Persian empire has so long groaned.

A weak and indolent prince, and a powerful and enterprising subject, are
sufficient to plunge a whole nation into such an abyss of disasters.
Hussein, sha, shaic, or sophi of Persia, a descendant of the great sha
Abbas, who sat at this time on the throne of Persia, had given himself
wholly up to luxury and effeminacy: his prime minister committed acts of
the greatest violence and injustice, which this great prince winked at,
and this gave rise to forty years' desolation and bloodshed.

Persia, like Turkey, has several provinces, all governed in a different
manner; she has subjects immediately under her dominion, vassals,
tributary princes, and even nations, to whom the court was wont to pay a
tribute, under the name of subsidies; for instance, the people of
Daghestan, who inhabit the branches of mount Caucasus, to the westward
of the Caspian Sea, which was formerly a part of the ancient Albania;
for all nations have changed their appellation and their limits. These
are now called Lesgians, and are mountaineers, who are rather under the
protection, than the dominion, of Persia; to these the government paid
subsidies for defending the frontiers.

At the other extremity of the empire, towards the Indies, was the prince
of Candahar, who commanded a kind of martial militia, called Aghwans.
This prince of Candahar was a vassal of the Persian, as the hospodars of
Walachia and Moldavia are of the Turkish empire: this vassalage was not
hereditary, but exactly the same with the ancient feudal tenures
established throughout Europe, by that race of Tartars who overthrew the
Roman empire. The Aghwan militia, of which the prince of Candahar was
the head, was the same with the Albanians on the coasts of the Caspian
Sea, in the neighbourhood of Daghestan, and a mixture of Circassians and
Georgians, like the ancient Mamelucks who enslaved Egypt. The name of
Aghwans is a corruption; Timur, whom we call Tamerlane, had led these
people into India, and they remained settled in the province of
Candahar, which sometimes belonged to the Mogul empire, and sometimes to
that of Persia. It was these Aghwans and Lesgians who began the
revolution.

Mir-Weis, or Meriwitz, intendant of the province, whose office was only
to collect the tributes, assassinated the prince of Candahar, armed the
militia, and continued master of the province till his death, which
happened in 1717. His brother came quietly to the succession, by paying
a slight tribute to the Persian court. But the son of Mir-Weis, who
inherited the ambition of his father, assassinated his uncle, and began
to erect himself into a conqueror. This young man was called
Mir-Mahmoud, but he was known in Europe only by the name of his father,
who had begun the rebellion. Mahmoud reinforced his Aghwans, by adding
to them all the Guebres he could get together. These Guebres were an
ancient race of Persians, who had been dispersed by the caliph Omar, and
who still continued attached to the religion of the Magi (formerly
flourished in the reign of Cyrus), and were always secret enemies to the
new Persians. Having assembled his forces, Mahmoud marched into the
heart of Persia, at the head of a hundred thousand men.

At the same time the Lesgians or Albanians, who, on account of the
troublesome times, had not received their subsidies from the court of
Persia, came down from their mountains with an armed force, so that the
flames of civil war were lighted up at both ends of the empire, and
extended themselves even to the capital.

These Lesgians ravaged all that country which stretches along the
western borders of the Caspian Sea, as far as Derbent, or the Iron Gate.
In this country is situated the city of Shamache, about fifteen leagues
distant from the sea, and is said to have been the ancient residence of
Cyrus, and by the Greeks called Cyropolis, for we know nothing of the
situation or names of these countries, but what we have from the Greeks;
but as the Persians never had a prince called Cyrus, much less had they
any city called Cyropolis. It is much in the same manner that the Jews,
who commenced authors when they were settled in Alexandria, framed a
notion of a city called Scythopolis, which, said they, was built by the
Scythians in the neighbourhood of Judea, as if either Scythians or
ancient Jews could have given Greek names to their towns.

The city of Shamache was very rich. The Armenians, who inhabit in the
neighbourhood of this part of the Persian empire, carried on an immense
traffic there, and Peter had lately established a company of Russian
merchants at his own expense, which company became very flourishing. The
Lesgians made themselves masters of this city by surprise, plundered it,
and put to death all the Russians who traded there under the protection
of shah Hussein, after having stripped all their warehouses. The loss on
this occasion was said to amount to four millions of rubles.

Peter upon this sent to demand satisfaction of the emperor Hussein, who
was then disputing the throne with the rebel Mahmoud, who had usurped
it, and likewise of Mahmoud himself. The former of these was willing to
do the czar justice, the other refused it; Peter therefore resolved to
right himself, and take advantage of the distractions in the Persian
empire.

Mir-Mahmoud still pushed his conquests in Persia. The sophi hearing that
the emperor of Russia was preparing to enter the Caspian Sea, in order
to revenge the murder of his subjects at Shamache, made private
application to him, by means of an Armenian, to take upon him at the
same time the defence of Persia.

Peter had for a considerable time formed a project to make himself
master of the Caspian Sea, by means of a powerful naval force, and to
turn the tide of commerce from Persia and a part of India through his
own dominions. He had caused several parts of this sea to be sounded,
the coasts to be surveyed, and exact charts made of the whole. He then
set sail for the coast of Persia the 15th day of May, 1722. Catherine
accompanied him in this voyage, as she had done in the former. They
sailed down the Wolga as far as the city of Astracan. From thence he
hastened to forward the canals which were to join the Caspian, the
Baltic, and the Euxine seas, a work which has been since executed in
part under the reign of his grandson.

While he was directing these works, the necessary provisions for his
expedition were arrived in the Caspian Sea. He was to take with him
twenty-two thousand foot, nine thousand dragoons, fifteen thousand
Cossacks, and three thousand seamen, who were to work the ships, and
occasionally assist the soldiery in making descents on the coast. The
horse were to march over land through deserts where there was frequently
no water to be had, and afterwards to pass over the mountains of
Caucasus, where three hundred men are sufficient to stop the progress of
a whole army; but the distracted condition in which Persia then was,
warranted the most hazardous enterprises.

The czar sailed about a hundred leagues to the southward of Astracan,
till he came to the little town of Andrewhoff. It may appear
extraordinary to hear of the name of Andrew on the coasts of the
Hyrcanian Sea; but some Georgians, who were formerly a sect of
Christians, had built this town, which the Persians afterwards
fortified; but it fell an easy prey to the czar's arms. From thence he
continued advancing by land into the province of Daghestan, and caused
manifestoes to be circulated in the Turkish and Persian languages.[115]
It was necessary to keep fair with the Ottoman Porte, who reckoned among
its subjects, not only the Circassians and Georgians, who border upon
this country, but also several powerful vassals, who had of late put
themselves under the protection of the grand seignior.

Among others there was one very powerful, named Mahmoud d'Utmich, who
took the title of sultan, and had the courage to attack the czar's
troops, by which he was totally defeated, and the story says, that his
whole country was made a bonfire on the occasion.

Sept. 14, 1722.] In a short time afterwards Peter arrived at the city of
Derbent, by the Persians and Turks called Demir Capi, that is, the Iron
Gate, and so named from having formerly had an iron gate at the south
entrance. The city is long and narrow, its upper part joins to a rocky
branch of Mount Caucasus, and the walls of the lower part are washed by
the sea, which in violent storms make a breach over them. These walls
might pass for one of the wonders of antiquity, being forty feet in
height, and six in breadth, defended with square towers at the distance
of every fifty feet. The whole work seems one uniform piece, and is
built of a sort of brown free-stone mixed with pounded shells, which
served as mortar, so that the whole forms a mass harder than marble. The
city lies open from the sea, but part of it next the land appears
impregnable. There are still some ruins of an old wall like that of
China, which must have been built in the earliest times of antiquity,
and stretched from the borders of the Caspian Sea to the Pontus Euxinus;
and this was probably a rampart raised by the ancient kings of Persia
against those swarms of barbarians which dwelt between those two seas.

According to the Persian tradition, the city of Derbent was partly
repaired and fortified by Alexander the Great. Arrian and Quintus
Curtius tell us, that Alexander absolutely rebuilt this city. They say
indeed that it was on the banks of the Tanais or Don, but then in their
time the Greeks gave the name of Tanais to the river Cyrus, which runs
by the city. It would be a contradiction to suppose that Alexander
should build a harbour in the Caspian Sea, on a river that opens into
the Black Sea.

There were formerly three or four other ports in different parts of the
Caspian Sea, all which were probably built with the same view; for the
several nations inhabiting to the west, east, and north of that sea,
have in all times been barbarians, who had rendered themselves
formidable to the rest of the world, and from hence principally issued
those swarms of conquerors who subjugated Asia and Europe.

And here I must beg leave to remark, how much pleasure authors in all
ages have taken to impose upon mankind, and how much they have preferred
a vain show of eloquence to matter of fact. Quintus Curtius puts into
the mouths of Scythians an admirable speech full of moderation and
philosophy, as if the Tartars of those regions had been all so many
sages, and that Alexander had not been the general nominated by the
Greeks against the king of Persia, sovereign of the greatest part of
southern Scythia and the Indies. Other rhetoricians, thinking to imitate
Quintus Curtius, have studied to make us look upon those savages of
Caucacus and its dreary deserts, who lived wholly upon rapine and
bloodshed, as the people in the world most remarkable for austere virtue
and justice, and have painted Alexander, the avenger of Greece, and the
conqueror of those who would have enslaved him and his country, as a
public robber, who had ravaged the world without justice or reason.

Such writers do not consider, that these Tartars were never other than
destroyers, and that Alexander built towns in the very country which
they inhabited; and in this respect I may venture to compare Peter the
Great to Alexander; like him he was assiduous and indefatigable in his
pursuits, a lover and friend of the useful arts; he surpassed him as a
lawgiver, and like him endeavoured to change the tide of commerce in the
world, and built and repaired at least as many towns as that celebrated
hero of antiquity.

On the approach of the Russian army, the governor of Derbent resolved
not to sustain a siege, whether he thought he was not able to defend the
place, or that he preferred the czar's protection to that of the tyrant
Mahmoud; brought the keys of the town and citadel (which were silver)
and presented them to Peter, whose army peaceably entered the city, and
then encamped on the sea-shore.

The usurper, Mahmoud, already master of great part of Persia, in vain
endeavoured to prevent the czar from taking possession of Derbent: he
stirred up the neighbouring Tartars, and marched into Persia to the
relief of the place; but, too late, for Derbent was already in the hands
of the conqueror.

Peter however was not in a condition to push his successes any further
at this time. The vessels which were bringing him a fresh supply of
provisions, horses, and recruits, had been cast away near Astracan, and
the season was far spent. He therefore returned to Moscow, Jan. 5. which
he entered in triumph; and after his arrival (according to custom) gave
a strict account of his expedition to the vice-czar Romadanowski, thus
keeping up this extraordinary farce, which, says his eulogium,
pronounced in the academy of sciences at Paris, ought to have been
performed before all the monarchs of the earth.

The empire of Persia continued to be divided between Hussein and the
usurper Mahmoud. The first of these thought to find a protector in the
czar, and the other dreaded him as an avenger, who was come to snatch
the fruits of his rebellion out of his hands. Mahmoud exerted all his
endeavours to stir up the Ottoman Porte against Peter, and for this
purpose sent an embassy to Constantinople, while the princes of
Daghestan, who were under the protection of the grand seignior, and had
been stript of their territories by the victorious army of Peter, cried
aloud for vengeance. The divan was now alarmed for the safety of
Georgia, which the Turks reckon in the number of their dominions.

The grand seignior was on the point of declaring war against the czar,
but was prevented by the courts of Vienna and Paris. The emperor of
Germany at the same time declared, that if Russia should be attacked by
the Turks, he must be obliged to defend it. The marquis de Bonac, the
French ambassador at Constantinople, made a dextrous use of the menaces
of the imperial court, and at the same time insinuated, that it was
contrary to the true interest of the Turkish empire, to suffer a rebel
and an usurper to set the example of dethroning sovereigns, and that the
czar had done no more than what the grand seignior himself ought to have
done.

During these delicate negotiations, Mir Mahmoud was advanced to the
gates of Derbent, and had laid waste all the neighbouring country in
order to cut off all means of subsistence from the Russian army. That
part of ancient Hyrcania, now called Ghilan, was reduced to a desert,
and the inhabitants threw themselves under the protection of the
Russians, whom they looked upon as their deliverers.

In this they followed the example of the sophi himself. That unfortunate
prince sent a formal embassy to Peter the Great, to request his
assistance; but the ambassador was hardly departed, when the rebel, Mir
Mahmoud, seized on Ispahan and the person of his master.

Thamaseb, the son of the dethroned sophi, who was taken prisoner, found
means to escape out of the tyrant's hands, and got together a body of
troops, with which he gave the usurper battle. He seconded his father's
entreaties to Peter the Great for his protection, and sent to the
ambassador the same instructions which Shah Hussein had given him.

This ambassador, whose name was Ishmael Beg, found that his negotiations
had proved successful, even before he arrived in person; for, on landing
at Astracan, he learnt that general Matufkin was going to set out with
fresh recruits to reinforce the army in Daghestan. The dey of Baku or
Bachu, which with the Persians gives to the Caspian Sea the name of the
Sea of Bacou, was not yet taken. The ambassador therefore gave the
Russian general a letter for the inhabitants, in which he exhorted them
in his master's name to submit to the emperor of Russia. The ambassador
then proceeded to Petersburg, and general Matufkin departed to lay siege
to the city of Bachu. (Aug. 1723.) The Persian ambassador arrived at the
czar's court the very day that tidings were brought of the reduction of
that city.

Baku is situate near Shamache, but is neither so well peopled, nor so
rich as the latter. It is chiefly remarkable for the naptha, with which
it furnishes all Persia. Never was treaty so speedily concluded as that
of Ishmael Beg. (Sept. 1723.) Czar Peter promised to march with his
forces into Persia, in order to revenge the death of his subjects, and
to succour Thamaseb against the usurper of his crown, and the new sophi
in return was to cede to him, not only the towns of Bachu and Derbent,
but likewise the provinces of Ghilan, Mazanderan, and Asterabath.

Ghilan is, as we have already observed, the ancient South Hyrcania;
Mazanderan, which joins to it, is the country of the Mardi, or Mardians;
and Asterabath borders upon Mazanderan. These were the three principal
provinces of the ancient Median kings; so that Peter beheld himself, by
the means of arms and treaties, in possession of the original kingdom of
Cyrus.

It may not be foreign to our subject to observe, that by the articles of
this convention, the prices of necessaries to be furnished to the army
were settled. A camel was to cost only sixty franks (about twelve
rubles) a pound of bread no more than five farthings, the same weight of
beef about six. These prices furnish a convincing proof of the plenty
he found in these countries, that possessions in land are of the most
intrinsic value, and that money, which is only of nominal worth, was at
that time very scarce.

Such was the deplorable state to which Persia was then reduced, that the
unfortunate sophi Thamaseb, a wanderer in his own kingdom, and flying
before the face of the rebel, Mahmoud, who had dipt his hands in the
blood of his father and his brothers, was necessitated to entreat the
court of Russia and the Turkish divan to accept of one part of his
dominions to preserve for him the rest.

It was agreed then, between czar Peter, sultan Achmet III. and the sophi
Thamaseb, that the first of these should keep the three provinces
above-named, and that the Porte should have Casbin, Tauris, and Erivan,
besides what she had already taken from the usurper. Thus was this noble
kingdom dismembered at once by the Russians, the Turks, and the Persians
themselves.

And now the emperor Peter might be said to extend his dominions from the
furthest part of the Baltic Sea, beyond the southern limits of the
Caspian. Persia still continued a prey to violations and devastations,
and its natives, till then opulent and polite, were now sunk in poverty
and barbarism, while the Russian people had arisen from indigence and
ignorance to a state of riches and learning. One single man, by a
resolute and enterprising genius, had brought his country out of
obscurity; and another, by his weakness and indolence, had brought
destruction upon his.

Hitherto we know very little of the private calamities which for so long
a time spread desolation over the face of the Persian empire. It is
said, that shah Hussein was so pusillanimous as to place with his own
hands the tiara or crown of Persia on the head of the usurper Mahmoud,
and also that this Mahmoud afterwards went mad. Thus the lives of so
many thousands of men depend on the caprice of a madman or a fool. They
add furthermore, that Mahmoud, in one of his fits of frenzy, put to
death with his own hand all the sons and nephews of the shah Hussein to
the number of a hundred; and that he caused the gospel of St. John to be
read upon his head, in order to purify himself, and to receive a cure
for his disorder. These and such like Persian fables have been
circulated by our monks, and afterwards printed in Paris.

The tyrant, after having murdered his uncle, was in his turn put to
death by his nephew Eshreff, who was as cruel and bloody a tyrant as
Mahmoud himself.

Shah Thamaseb still continued imploring the assistance of Russia. This
Thamaseb or shah Thomas, was assisted and afterwards replaced on the
throne by the famous Kouli Khan, and was again dethroned by the same
Kouli Khan.

The revolutions and wars which Russia had afterwards to encounter
against the Turks, and in which she proved victorious, the evacuating
the three provinces in Persia, which cost Russia more to keep than they
were worth, are events which do not concern Peter the Great, as they did
not happen till several years after his death; it may suffice to
observe, that he finished his military career by adding three provinces
to his empire on the part next to Persia, after having just before added
the same number on that side next to Sweden.




CHAP. XXXVI.

    Of the Coronation of the Empress Catherine I. and the Death of Peter
    the Great.


Peter, at his return from his Persian expedition, found himself in a
better condition than ever to be the arbiter of the North. He now openly
declared himself the protector of Charles XII. whose professed enemy he
had been for eighteen years. He sent for the duke of Holstein, nephew to
that monarch, to his court, promised him his eldest daughter in
marriage, and began to make preparations for supporting him in his
claims on the duchy of Holstein Sleswick, and even engaged himself so to
do by a treaty of alliance, (Feb. 1724.) which he concluded with the
crown of Sweden.

He continued the works he had begun all over his empire, to the further
extremity of Kamtshatka, and for the better direction of them,
established an academy of sciences at Petersburg. The arts began now to
flourish on every side: manufactures were encouraged, the navy was
augmented, the army well provided, and the laws properly enforced. He
now enjoyed his glory in full repose; but was desirous of sharing it in
a new manner with her who, according to his own declaration, by
remedying the disaster of the campaign of Pruth, had been in some
measure the instrument of his acquiring that glory.

Accordingly, the coronation of his consort Catherine was performed at
Moscow, in presence of the duchess of Courland, his eldest brother's
daughter, and the duke of Holstein, his intended son-in-law. (May 28,
1724.) The declaration which he published on this occasion merits
attention: he therein cites the examples of several Christian princes
who had placed the crown on the heads of their consorts, as likewise
those of the heathen emperors, Basilides, Justinian, Heraclius, and Leo,
the philosopher. He enumerates the services Catherine had done to the
state, and in particular in the war against the Turks,--'Where my army,'
says he, 'which had been reduced to 22,000 men, had to encounter an army
above 200,000 strong.' He does not say, in this declaration, that the
empress was to succeed to the crown after his death; but this ceremony,
which was altogether new and unusual in the Russian empire, was one of
those means by which he prepared the minds of his subjects for such an
event. Another circumstance that might perhaps furnish a stronger reason
to believe that he destined Catherine to succeed him on the throne, was,
that he himself marched on foot before her the day of her coronation, as
captain of a new company, which he had created under the name of the
_knights of the empress_.

When they arrived at the cathedral, Peter himself placed the crown on
her head; and when she would have fallen down and embraced his knees, he
prevented her; and, at their return from the church, caused the sceptre
and globe to be carried before her. The ceremony was altogether worthy
an emperor; for on every public occasion Peter shewed as much pomp and
magnificence as he did plainness and simplicity in his private manner of
living.

Having thus crowned his spouse, he at length determined to give his
eldest daughter, Anna Petrowna, in marriage to the duke of Holstein.
This princess greatly resembled her father in the face, was very
majestic, and of a singular beauty. She was betrothed to the duke of
Holstein on the 24th of November, 1724, but with very little ceremony.
Peter having for some time past found his health greatly impaired, and
this, together with some family uneasiness, that perhaps rather
increased his disorder, which in a short time proved fatal, permitted
him to have but very little relish for feasts or public diversions in
this latter part of his life. [116] The empress Catherine had at that
time a young man for the chamberlain of her household, whose name was
Moens de la Croix, a native of Russia, but of Flemish parents,
remarkably handsome and genteel. His sister, madame de Balc, was
bed-chamber-woman to the empress, and these two had entirely the
management of her household. Being both accused of having taken
presents, they were sent to prison, and afterwards brought to their
trial by express order of the czar; who, by an edict in the year 1714,
had forbidden any one holding a place about court to receive any present
or other gratuity, on pain of being declared infamous, and suffering
death; and this prohibition had been several times renewed.

The brother and sister were found guilty, and received sentence, and all
those who had either purchased their services or given them any gratuity
in return for the same, were included therein, except the duke of
Holstein and his minister count Bassewitz: as it is probable that the
presents made by that prince, to those who had a share in bringing about
his marriage with the czar's daughter, were not looked upon in a
criminal light.

Moens was condemned to be beheaded, and his sister (who was the
empress's favourite) to receive eleven strokes of the knout. The two
sons of this lady, one of whom was an officer in the household, and the
other a page, were degraded, and sent to serve as private soldiers in
the army in Persia.

These severities, though they shock our manners, were perhaps necessary
in a country where the observance of the laws is to be enforced only by
the most terrifying rigour. The empress solicited her favourite's
pardon; but the czar, offended at her application, peremptorily refused
her, and, in the heat of his passion, seeing a fine looking-glass in the
apartment, he, with one blow of his fist, broke it into a thousand
pieces; and, turning to the empress, 'Thus,' said he, 'thou seest I can,
with one stroke of my hand, reduce this glass to its original dust.'
Catherine, in a melting accent, replied, 'It is true, you have destroyed
one of the greatest ornaments of your palace, but do you think that
palace is the more charming for its loss?' This answer appeased the
emperor's wrath; but all the favour that Catherine could obtain for her
bed-chamber-woman was, that she should receive only five strokes of the
knout instead of eleven.

I should not have related this anecdote, had it not been attested by a
public minister, who was eye-witness of the whole transaction, and who,
by having made presents to the unfortunate brother and sister, was
perhaps himself one of the principal causes of their disgrace and
sufferings. It was this affair that emboldened those who judge of every
thing in the worst light, to spread the report that Catherine hastened
the death of her husband, whose choleric disposition filled her with
apprehensions that overweighed the gratitude she owed him for the many
favours he had heaped upon her.

These cruel suspicions were confirmed by Catherine's recalling to court
her woman of the bed-chamber immediately upon the death of the czar, and
reinstating her in her former influence. It is the duty of an historian
to relate the public reports which have been circulated in all times in
states, on the decease of princes who have been snatched away by a
premature death, as if nature was not alone sufficient to put a period
to the existence of a crowned head as well as that of a beggar; but it
is likewise the duty of an historian to shew how far such reports were
rashly or unjustly formed.

There is an immense distance between the momentary discontent which may
arise from the morose or harsh behaviour of a husband, and the desperate
resolution of poisoning that husband, who is at the same time our
sovereign and benefactor in the highest degree. The danger attending
such a design would have been as great as it was criminal. Catherine had
at that time a powerful party against her, who epoused the cause of the
son of the deceased czarowitz. Nevertheless, neither that faction, nor
any one person about the court, once suspected the czarina; and the
vague rumours which were spread on this head were founded only on the
mistaken notions of foreigners, who were very imperfectly acquainted
with the affair, and who chose to indulge the wretched pleasure of
accusing of heinous crimes those whom they thought interested to commit
them. But it was even very doubtful whether this was at all the case
with Catherine. It was far from being certain that she was to succeed
her husband. She had been crowned indeed, but only in the character of
wife to the reigning sovereign, and not as one who was to enjoy the
sovereign authority after his death.

Peter, in his declaration, had only ordered this coronation as a matter
of ceremony, and not as conferring a right of governing. He therein only
cited the examples of emperors, who had caused their consorts to be
crowned, but not of those who had conferred on them the royal authority.
In fine, at the very time of Peter's illness, several persons believed
that the princess Anna Petrowna would succeed him jointly with her
husband the duke of Holstein, or that the czar would nominate his
grandson for his successor; therefore, so far from Catherine's being
interested in the death of the emperor, she rather seemed concerned in
the preservation of his life.

It is undeniable, that Peter had, for a considerable time, been troubled
with an abscess in the bladder, and a stoppage of urine. The mineral
waters of Olnitz, and some others, which he had been advised to use, had
proved of very little service to him, and he had found himself growing
sensibly weaker, ever since the beginning of the year 1724. His labours,
from which he would not allow himself any respite, increased his
disorder, and hastened his end: (Jan. 1723.) his malady became now more
and more desperate, he felt burning pains, which threw him into an
almost constant delirium,[117] whenever he had a moment's interval, he
endeavoured to write, but he could only scrawl a few lines that were
wholly unintelligible; and it was with the greatest difficulty that the
following words, in the Russian language, could be distinguished:--'_Let
every thing be given to ----_'

He then called for the princess Anna Petrowna, in order to dictate to
her, but by that time she could come to his bed-side, he had lost his
speech, and fell into a fit, which lasted sixteen hours. The empress
Catherine did not quit his bed-side for three nights together. At
length, he breathed his last in her arms, on the 28th of Jan. 1725.
about four o'clock in the morning.

His body was conveyed into the great hall of the palace, accompanied by
all the imperial family, the senate, all the principal personages of
state, and an innumerable concourse of people. It was there exposed on a
bed of state, and every one was permitted to approach and kiss his hand,
till the day of his interment, which was on the 10-21st of March,
1725.[118]

It has been thought, and it has been asserted in print, that he had
appointed his wife Catherine to succeed him in the empire, by his last
will, but the truth is, that he never made any will, or at least none
that ever appeared; a most astonishing negligence in so great a
legislator, and a proof that he did not think his disorder mortal.

No one knew, at the time of his death, who was to succeed him: he left
behind him his grandson Peter, son of the unfortunate Alexis, and his
eldest daughter Anna, married to the duke of Holstein. There was a
considerable faction in favour of young Peter; but prince Menzikoff, who
had never had any other interests than those of the empress Catherine,
took care to be beforehand with all parties, and their designs; and
accordingly, when the czar was upon the point of giving up the ghost, he
caused the empress to remove into another apartment of the palace, where
all their friends were assembled ready: he had the royal treasures
conveyed into the citadel, and secured the guards in his interest, as
likewise the archbishop of Novogorod; and then they held a private
council, in presence of the empress Catherine, and one Macarof, a
secretary, in whom they could confide, at which the duke of Holstein's
minister assisted.

At the breaking up of this council, the empress returned to the czar's
bed-side, who soon after yielded up the ghost in her arms. As soon as
his death was made known, the principal senators and general officers
repaired to the palace, where the empress made a speech to them, which
prince Menzikoff answered in the name of all present. The empress being
withdrawn, they proceeded to consider the proper forms to be observed on
the occasion, when Theophanes, archbishop of Pleskow, told the assembly,
that, on the eve of the coronation of the empress Catherine, the
deceased czar had declared to him, that his sole reason for placing the
crown on her head, was, that she might wear it after his death; upon
which the assembly unanimously signed the proclamation, and Catherine
succeeded her husband on the throne the very day of his death.

Peter the Great was regretted by all those whom he had formed, and the
descendants of those who had been sticklers for the ancient customs soon
began to look on him as their father: foreign nations, who have beheld
the duration of his establishments, have always expressed the highest
admiration for his memory, acknowledging that he was actuated by a more
than common prudence and wisdom, and not by a vain desire of doing
extraordinary things. All Europe knows that though he was fond of fame,
he coveted it only for noble principles; that though he had faults, they
never obscured his noble qualities, and that, though, as a man, he was
liable to errors, as a monarch he was always great: he every way forced
nature, in his subjects, in himself, by sea and land: but he forced her
only to render her more pleasing and noble. The arts, which he
transplanted with his own hands, into countries, till then in a manner
savage, have flourished, and produced fruits which are lasting
testimonies of his genius, and will render his memory immortal, since
they now appear as natives of those places to which he introduced them.
The civil, political, and military government, trade, manufactures, the
arts and the sciences, have all been carried on, according to his plan,
and by an event not to be paralleled in history: we have seen four women
successively ascend the throne after him, who have maintained, in full
vigour, all the great designs he accomplished, and have completed those
which he had begun.

The court has undergone some revolutions since his death, but the empire
has not suffered one. Its splendour was increased by Catherine I. It
triumphed over the Turks and the Swedes under Anna Petrowna; and under
Elizabeth it conquered Prussia, and a part of Pomerania; and lastly, it
has tasted the sweets of peace, and has seen the arts flourish in
fulness and security in the reign of Catherine the Second.[119]

Let the historians of that nation enter into the minutest circumstances
of the new creation, the wars and undertakings of Peter the Great: let
them rouse the emulation of their countrymen, by celebrating those
heroes who assisted this monarch in his labours, in the field, and in
the cabinet. It is sufficient for a stranger, a disinterested admirer of
merit, to have endeavoured to set to view that great man, who learned of
Charles XII. to conquer him, who twice quitted his dominions, in order
to govern them the better, who worked with his own hands, in almost all
the useful and necessary arts, to set an example of instruction to his
people, and who was the founder and the father of his empire.[120]

Princes, who reign over states long since civilized, may say to
themselves, 'If a man, assisted only by his own genius, has been capable
of doing such great things in the frozen climes of ancient Scythia, what
may not be expected from us, in kingdoms where the accumulated labours
of many ages have rendered the way so easy?'




ORIGINAL PIECES RELATIVE TO THIS HISTORY, AGREEABLE TO THE TRANSLATIONS
MADE AT THEIR FIRST PUBLICATION, BY ORDER OF CZAR PETER I.


SENTENCE _Pronounced against the CZAROWITZ ALEXIS, June 24th, 1718._

By virtue of an express ordinance issued by his czarish majesty, and
signed by his own hand, on the 13th of June, for the judgment of the
czarowitz Alexis Petrowitz, in relation to his crimes and transgressions
against his father and sovereign; the undernamed ministers and senators,
estates military and civil, after having assembled several times in the
regency chamber of the senate of Petersburg, and having heard read the
original writings and testimonies given against the czarowitz, as also
his majesty's admonitory letters to that prince, and his answers to them
in his own writing, and other acts relating to the process, and likewise
the criminal informations, declarations and confessions of the
czarowitz, partly written with his own hand, and partly delivered by
word of mouth to his father and sovereign, before the several persons
undernamed, constituted by his czarish majesty's authority to the effect
of the present judgment, do acknowledge and declare, that though
according to the laws of the Russian empire, it belongs not to them, the
natural subjects of his czarish majesty's sovereign dominions, to take
cognizance of an affair of this nature, which for its importance depends
solely on the absolute will of the sovereign, whose power, unlimited by
any law, is derived from God alone; yet, in submission to his ordinance
who hath given them this liberty, and after mature reflection, observing
the dictates of their consciences without fear, flattery, or respect of
persons, having nothing before their eyes but the divine laws applicable
to the present case, the canons and rules of councils, the authority of
the holy fathers and doctors of the church, and taking also for their
rule the instruction of the archbishops and clergy assembled at
Petersburg on this occasion, and conforming themselves to the laws and
constitutions of this empire, which are agreeable to those of other
nations, especially the Greeks and the Romans, and other Christian
princes; they unanimously agreed and pronounced the czarowitz Alexis
Petrowitz _to be worthy of death_, for the aforesaid crimes and capital
transgressions against his sovereign and father, he being his czarish
majesty's son and subject; and that, notwithstanding the promise given
by his czarish majesty to the czarowitz, in a letter sent by M. Tolstoy
and captain Romanzoff, dated from Spaw, the 10th of July, 1717, to
pardon his elopement if he voluntarily returned, as the czarowitz
himself acknowledges with gratitude, in his answer to that letter, dated
from Naples, the 4th of October, 1717, wherein he returns thanks to his
majesty for the pardon he had promised him solely on condition of his
speedy and voluntary return; yet he hath forfeited and rendered himself
unworthy of that pardon, by renewing and continuing his former
transgressions, as is fully set forth in his majesty's manifesto of the
3d of February, in this present year, and for not returning voluntarily
and of his own accord.

And although his majesty did, upon the arrival of the czarowitz at
Moscow, and his humbly confessing in writing his crimes, and asking
pardon for them, take pity on him, as is natural for every father to act
towards a son, and at the audience, held in the great hall of the
castle, dated the said 3d day of February, did promise him full pardon
for all his crimes and transgressions, it was only on condition that he
would declare, without reserve or restriction, all his designs, and who
were his counsellors and abettors therein, but that if he concealed any
one person or thing, that in such case the promised pardon should be
null and void, which conditions the czarowitz did at that time accept
and receive, with all outward tokens of gratitude and obedience,
solemnly swearing on the holy cross and the blessed evangelists, and in
the presence of all those assembled at that time and for that purpose in
the cathedral church, that he would faithfully, and without reserve,
declare the whole truth.

His majesty did also the next day confirm to the czarowitz in writing
the said promise, in the interrogatories which hereafter follow, and
which his majesty caused to be delivered to him, having first written at
the begining what follows:

'As you did yesterday receive your pardon, on condition that you would
confess all the circumstances of your flight, and whatever relates
thereto; but if you concealed any part thereof, you should answer for it
with your life; and, as you have already made some confessions, it is
expected of you, for our more full satisfaction, and your own safety, to
commit the same to writing, in such order as shall in the course of your
examination be pointed out to you.'

And at the end, under the seventh question, there was again written,
with his czarish majesty's own hand:

'Declare to us, and discover whatever hath any relation to this affair,
though it be not here expressed, and clear yourself as if it were at
confession; for if you conceal any thing that shall by any other means
be afterwards discovered, do not impute the consequence to us, since you
have been already told, that in such case the pardon granted you should
be null and void.'

Notwithstanding all which, the answers and confessions of the czarowitz
were delivered without any sincerity; he not only concealing many of his
accomplices, but also the capital circumstances relating to his own
transgressions, particularly his rebellious design in usurping the
throne even in the life-time of his father, flattering himself that the
populace would declare in his favour; all which hath since been fully
discovered in the criminal process, after he had refused to make a
discovery himself, as hath appeared by the above presents.

Thus it hath appeared by the whole conduct of the czarowitz, as well as
by the confessions which he both delivered in writing, and by word of
mouth, particularly, that he was not disposed to wait for the succession
in the manner in which his father had left it to him after his death,
according to equity, and the order of nature which God has established;
but intended to take the crown off the head of his father, while living,
and set it upon his own, not only by a civil insurrection, but by the
assistance of a foreign force, which he had actually requested.

The czarowitz has hereby rendered himself unworthy of the clemency and
pardon, promised him by the emperor his father; and since the laws
divine and ecclesiastical, civil and military, condemn to death, without
mercy, not only those whose attempts against their father and sovereign
have been proved by testimonies and writings; but even such as have been
convicted of an intention to rebel, and of having formed a base design
to kill their sovereign, and usurp the throne; what shall we think of a
rebellious design, almost unparalleled in history, joined to that of a
horrid parricide, against him who was his father in a double capacity; a
father of great lenity and indulgence, who brought up the czarowitz from
the cradle with more than paternal care and tenderness; who earnestly
endeavoured to form him for government, and with incredible pains, and
indefatigable application, to instruct him in the military art, and
qualify him to succeed to so great an empire? with how much stronger
reason does such a design deserve to be punished with death?

It is therefore with hearts full of affliction, and eyes streaming with
tears, that we, as subjects and servants, pronounce this sentence;
considering that it belongs not to us to give judgment in a case of so
great importance, and especially to pronounce against the son of our
most precious sovereign lord the czar. Nevertheless, it being his
pleasure that we should act in this capacity, we, by these presents,
declare our real opinion, and pronounce this sentence of condemnation
with a pure and Christian conscience, as we hope to be able to answer
for it at the just, awful, and impartial tribunal of Almighty God.

We submit, however, this sentence, which we now pass, to the sovereign
power, the will, and merciful revisal of his czarish majesty, our most
gracious sovereign.


THE PEACE OF NYSTADT.

In the name of the Most Holy and undivided Trinity.

Be it known by these presents, that whereas a bloody, long, and
expensive war has arisen and subsisted for several years past, between
his late majesty king Charles XII. of glorious memory, king of Sweden,
of the Goths, and Vandals, &c. &c. his successors to the throne of
Sweden, the lady Ulrica queen of Sweden, of the Goths and Vandals, &c.
and the kingdom of Sweden, on the one part; and between his czarish
majesty Peter the First, emperor of all the Russias, &c. and the empire
of Russia, on the other part; the two powers have thought proper to
exert their endeavours to find out means to put a period to those
troubles, and prevent the further effusion of so much innocent blood;
and it has pleased the Almighty to dispose the hearts of both powers, to
appoint a meeting of their ministers plenipotentiary, to treat of, and
conclude a firm, sincere and lasting peace, and perpetual friendship
between the two powers, their dominions, provinces, countries, vassals,
subjects, and inhabitants; namely, Mr. John Liliensted, one of the most
honourable privy-council to his majesty the king of Sweden, his kingdom
and chancery, and baron Otto Reinhold Stroemfeld, intendant of the
copper mines and fiefs of Dalders, on the part of his said majesty; and
on the part of his czarish majesty, count Jacob Daniel Bruce, his
general adjutant, president of the colleges of mines and manufactories,
and knight of the order of St. Andrew and the White Eagle, and Mr. Henry
John Frederic Osterman, one of his said majesty's privy-counsellors in
his chancery: which plenipotentiary ministers, being assembled at
Nystadt, and having communicated to each other their respective
commissions, and imploring the divine assistance, did enter upon this
important and salutary enterprise, and have, by the grace and blessing
of God, concluded the following peace between the crown of Sweden and
his czarish majesty.

Art. 1. There shall be now and henceforward a perpetual and inviolable
peace, sincere union, and indissoluble friendship, between his majesty
Frederic the First, king of Sweden, of the Goths and Vandals, his
successors to the crown and kingdom of Sweden, his dominions, provinces,
countries, villages, vassals, subjects, and inhabitants, as well within
the Roman empire as out of said empire, on the one side; and his czarish
majesty Peter the First, emperor of all the Russias, &c. his successors
to the throne of Russia, and all his countries, villages, vassals,
subjects, and inhabitants, on the other side; in such wise, that for
the future, neither of the two reconciled powers shall commit, or suffer
to be committed, any hostility, either privately or publicly, directly
or indirectly, nor shall in any wise assist the enemies of each other,
on any pretext whatever, not contract any alliance with them, that may
be contrary to this peace, but shall always maintain and preserve a
sincere friendship towards each other, and as much as in them lies,
support their mutual honour, advantage and safety; as likewise prevent,
to the utmost of their power, any injury or vexation with which either
of the reconciled parties may be threatened by any other power.

Art. 2. It is further mutually agreed upon betwixt the two parties, that
a general pardon and act of oblivion for all hostilities committed
during the war, either by arms or otherwise, shall be strictly observed,
so far as that neither party shall ever henceforth either call to mind,
or take vengeance for the same, particularly in regard to persons of
state, and subjects who have entered into the service of either of the
two parties during the war, and have thereby become enemies to the
other, except only the Russian Cossacks, who enlisted in the service of
the king of Sweden, and whom his czarish majesty will not consent to
have included in the said general pardon, notwithstanding the
intercession made for them by the king of Sweden.

Art. 3. All hostilities, both by sea and land, shall cease both here and
in the grand duchy of Finland in fifteen days, or sooner, if possible,
after the regular exchange of the ratifications; and to this intent the
conclusion of the peace shall be published without delay. And in case
that, after the expiration of the said term, any hostilities should be
committed by either party, either by sea or land, in any manner
whatsoever, through ignorance of the conclusion of the peace, such
offence shall by no means prejudice the conclusion of said peace; on the
contrary, each shall make a reciprocal exchange of both men and effects
that may be taken after the said term.

Art. 4. His majesty the king of Sweden does, by the present treaty, as
well for himself as for his successors to the throne and kingdom of
Sweden, cede to his czarish majesty, and his successors to the Russian
empire, in full, irrevocable and everlasting possession, the provinces
which have been taken by his czarish majesty's arms from the crown of
Sweden during this war, viz. Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, and a part of
Carelia, as likewise the district of the fiefs of Wybourg specified
hereafter in the article for regulating the limits; the towns and
fortresses of Riga, Dunamund, Pernau, Revel, Dorpt, Nerva, Wybourg,
Kexholm, and the other towns, fortresses, harbours, countries,
districts, rivers, and coasts, belonging to the provinces: as likewise
the islands of Oesel, Dagoe, Moen, and all the other islands from the
frontiers of Courland, towards the coasts of Livonia, Esthonia, and
Ingria, and on the east side of Revel, and in the road of Wybourg,
towards the south-east, with all the present inhabitants of those
islands, and of the aforesaid provinces, towns, and countries; and in
general, all their appurtenances, dependencies, prerogatives, rights,
and advantages, without exception, in like manner as the crown of Sweden
possessed them.

To which purpose, his majesty the king of Sweden renounces for ever, in
the most solemn manner, as well for his own part, as for his successors,
and for the whole kingdom of Sweden, all pretensions which they have
hitherto had, or could have, to the said provinces, islands, countries,
and towns; and all the inhabitants thereof shall, by virtue of these
presents, be discharged from the oath of allegiance, which they have
taken to the crown of Sweden, in such wise as that his Swedish majesty,
and the kingdom of Sweden, shall never hereafter either claim or demand
the same, on any pretence whatsoever; but, on the contrary, they shall
be and remain incorporated for ever into the empire of Russia. Moreover,
his Swedish majesty, and the kingdom of Sweden, promise by these
presents to assist and support from henceforth his czarish majesty, and
his successors to the empire of Russia, in the peaceable possession of
the said provinces, islands, countries, and towns; and that they will
find out and deliver up to the persons authorized by his czarish majesty
for that purpose, all the records and papers principally belonging to
those places which have been taken away and carried into Sweden during
the war.

Art 5. His czarish majesty, in return, promises to evacuate and restore
to his Swedish majesty, and the kingdom of Sweden, within the space of
four weeks after the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or
sooner if possible, the grand duchy of Finland, except only that part
thereof which has been reserved by the following regulation of the
limits which shall belong to his czarish majesty, so that his said
czarish majesty, and his successors, never shall have or bring the least
claim or demand on the said duchy, on any pretence whatever. His czarish
majesty further declares and promises, that certain and prompt payment
of two millions of crowns shall be made without any discount to the
deputies of the king of Sweden, on condition that they produce and give
sufficient receipts, as agreed upon; and the said payment shall be made
in such coin as shall be agreed upon by a separate article, which shall
be of equal force as if inserted in the body of this treaty.

Art. 6. His majesty the king of Sweden does further reserve to himself,
in regard to trade, the liberty of buying corn yearly at Riga, Revel,
and Arensbourg, to the amount of fifty thousand rubles, which corn shall
be transported from thence into Sweden, without paying duty or any other
taxes, on producing a certificate, shewing that such corn has been
purchased for the use of his Swedish majesty, or by his subjects,
charged with the care of making this purchase by his said majesty; and
such right shall not be subject to, or depend on any exigency, wherein
his czarish majesty may find it necessary, either on account of a bad
harvest, or some other important reasons, to prohibit in general the
exportation of corn to any other nation.

Art. 7. His czarish majesty does also promise, in the most solemn
manner, that he will in no wise interfere with the private affairs of
the kingdom of Sweden, nor with the form of government, which has been
regulated and established by the oath of allegiance, and unanimous
consent of the states of said kingdom; neither will he assist therein
any person whatever, in any manner, directly or indirectly; but, on the
contrary, will endeavour to hinder and prevent any disturbance
happening, provided his czarish majesty has timely notice of the same,
who will on all such occasions act as a sincere friend and good
neighbour to the crown of Sweden.

Art. 8. And as they mutually intend to establish a firm sincere and
lasting peace, to which purpose it is very necessary to regulate the
limits so, that neither of the parties can harbour any jealousy, but
that each shall peaceably possess whatever has been surrendered to him
by this treaty of peace, they have thought proper to declare, that the
two empires shall from henceforth and for ever have the following
limits, beginning on the northern coast of the Bothnic gulf, near
Wickolax, from whence they shall extend to within half a league of the
sea-coast inland, and from the distance of half a league from the sea as
far as opposite to Willayoki, and from thence further inland; so that
from the sea-side, and opposite to Rohel, there shall be a distance of
about three-quarters of a league, in a direct line, to the road which
leads from Wibourg to Lapstrand, at three leagues distance from Wibourg,
and which proceeds the same distance of three leagues towards the north
by Wibourg, in a direct line to the former limits between Russia and
Sweden, even before the reduction of the district of Kexholm under the
government of the king of Sweden. Those ancient limits extend eight
leagues towards the north, from thence they run in a direct line through
the district of Kexholm, to the place where the harbour of Porogerai,
which begins near the town of Kudumagube, joins to the ancient limits,
between Russia and Sweden, so that his majesty the king and kingdom of
Sweden, shall henceforth possess all that part lying west and north
beyond the above specified limits, and his czarish majesty and the
empire of Russia all that part which is situated east and south of the
said limits. And as his czarish majesty surrenders from henceforth to
his Swedish majesty and the kingdom of Sweden, a part of the district of
Kexholm, which belonged heretofore to the empire of Russia, he promises,
in the most solemn manner, in regard to himself and successors to the
throne of Russia, that he never will make any future claim to this said
district of Kexholm, on any account whatever; but the said district
shall hereafter be and remain incorporated into the kingdom of Sweden.
As to the limits in the country of Lamparque, they shall remain on the
same footing as they were before the beginning of this war between the
two empires. It is further agreed upon, that commissaries shall be
appointed by each party, immediately after the ratification of this
treaty to regulate the limits as aforesaid.

Art. 9. His czarish majesty further promises to maintain all the
inhabitants of the provinces of Livonia, Esthonia, and Oesel, as well
nobles as plebeians, and the towns, magistrates, companies, and trades,
in the full enjoyment of the said privileges, customs and prerogatives,
which they have enjoyed under the dominion of his Swedish majesty.

Art. 10. There shall not hereafter be any violence offered to the
consciences of the inhabitants of the ceded countries; on the contrary,
his czarish majesty engages on his side to preserve and maintain the
evangelical (Lutheran) religion on the same footing as under the Swedish
government, provided there is likewise a free liberty of conscience
allowed to those of the Greek religion.

Art. 11. In regard to the reductions and liquidations made in the reign
of the late king of Sweden in Livonia, Esthonia, and Oesel, to the great
injury of the subjects and inhabitants of those countries, which,
conformable to the justice of the affair in question, obliged his late
majesty the king of Sweden, of glorious memory, to promise, by an
ordinance (which was published the 13th day of April, 1700, that if any
one of his subjects could fairly prove, that the goods which had been
confiscated were their property justice should be done them, whereby
several subjects of the said countries have had such their confiscated
effects restored to them) his czarish majesty engages and promises, that
justice shall be done to every person, whether residing or not, who has
a just claim or pretension to any lands in Livonia, Esthonia, or the
province of Oesel, and can make full proof thereof, and that such person
shall be reinstated in the possession of his lands and effects.

Art. 12. There shall likewise be immediate restitution made, conformable
to the general amnesty regulated and agreed by the second article, to
such of the inhabitants of Livonia, Esthonia, and the island of Oesel,
who may during this war have joined the king of Sweden, together with
all their effects, lands, and houses, which have been confiscated and
given to others, as well in the towns of these provinces, as in those of
Narva and Wibourg, notwithstanding they may have passed during the said
war by inheritance or otherwise into other hands, with any exception or
restraint, even though the proprietors should be actually in Sweden,
either as prisoners or otherwise; and such restitution shall take place
so soon as each person is re-naturalized by his respective government,
and produces his documents relating to his right; on the other hand,
these proprietors shall by no means lay claim to, or pretend to any part
of, the revenues, which may have been received by those who were in
possession in consequence of the confiscation, nor to any other
compensation for their losses in the war or otherwise. And all persons,
who are thus put in re-possession of their effects and lands, shall be
obliged to do homage to his czarish majesty, their present sovereign,
and further to behave themselves as faithful vassals and subjects; and
when they have taken the usual oath of allegiance, they shall be at
liberty to leave their own country to go and live in any other, which is
in alliance and friendship with the Russian empire, as also to enter
into the service of neutral powers, or to continue therein, if already
engaged, as they shall think proper. On the other hand, in regard to
those, who do not choose to do homage to his czarish majesty, they shall
be allowed the space of three years from the publication of the peace,
to sell or dispose of their effects, lands, and all belonging to them,
to the best advantage, without paying any more than is paid by every
other person, agreeably to the laws and statutes of the country. And if
hereafter, it should happen that an inheritance should devolve to any
person according to the laws of the country, and that such person shall
not as yet have taken the oath of allegiance to his czarish majesty, he
shall in such case be obliged to take the same at the time of entering
on the possession of his inheritance, otherwise to sell off all his
effects in the space of one year.

Also those who have advanced money on lands in Livonia, Esthonia, and
the island of Oesel, and have lawful security for the same, shall enjoy
their mortgages peaceably, until both capital and interest are
discharged; on the other hand, the mortgages shall not claim any
interest, which expired during the war, and which have not been demanded
or paid; but those who in either of these cases have the administration
of the said effects, shall be obliged to do homage to his czarish
majesty. This likewise extends to all those who remain in his czarish
majesty's dominions, and who shall have the same liberty to dispose of
their effects in Sweden, and in those countries which have been
surrendered to that crown by this peace. Moreover, the subjects of each
of the reconciled powers shall be mutually supported in all their lawful
claims and demands, whether on the public, or on individuals within the
dominions of the two powers, and immediate justice shall be done them,
so that every person may be reinstated in the possession of what justly
belongs to him.

Art. 13. All contributions in money shall from the signing of this
treaty cease in the grand duchy of Finland, which his czarish majesty by
the fifth article of this treaty cedes to his Swedish majesty and the
kingdom of Sweden; on the other hand the duchy of Finland shall furnish
his czarish majesty's troops with the necessary provisions and forage
gratis, until they shall have entirely evacuated the said duchy, on the
said footing as has been practised heretofore; and his czarish majesty
shall prohibit and forbid, under the severest penalties, the dislodging
any ministers or peasants of the Finnish nation, contrary to their
inclinations, or that the least injury be done to them. In consideration
of which, and as it will be permitted his czarish majesty, upon
evacuating the said countries and towns, to take with him his great and
small cannon, with their carriages and other appurtenances, and the
magazines and other warlike stores which he shall think fit. The
inhabitants shall furnish a sufficient number of horse and waggons as
far as the frontiers; and also, if the whole of this cannot be executed
according to the stipulated terms, and that any part of such artillery,
&c. is necessitated to be left behind, then, and in such cases, that
which is so left shall be properly taken care of, and afterwards
delivered to his czarish majesty's deputies, whenever it shall be
agreeable to them, and likewise be transported to the frontiers in
manner as above. If his czarish majesty's troops shall have found and
sent out of the country any deeds or papers belonging to the grand duchy
of Finland, strict search shall be made for the same, and all of them
that can be found shall be faithfully restored to deputies of his
Swedish majesty.

Art. 14. All the prisoners on each side, of whatsoever nation, rank, and
condition, shall be set at liberty immediately after the ratification of
this treaty, without any ransom, at the same time every prisoner shall
either pay or give sufficient security for the payment of all debts by
them contracted. The prisoners on each side shall be furnished with the
necessary horses and waggons gratis during the time allotted for their
return home, in proportion to the distance from the frontiers. In regard
to such prisoners, who shall have sided with one or the other party, or
who shall choose to settle in the dominions of either of the two powers,
they shall have full liberty so to do without restriction: and this
liberty shall likewise extend to all those who have been compelled to
serve either party during the war, who may in like manner remain where
they are, or return home; except such who have voluntarily embraced the
Greek religion, in compliance to his czarish majesty; for which purpose
each party shall order that the edicts be published and made known in
their respective dominions.

Art. 15. His majesty the king, and the republic of Poland, as allies to
his czarish majesty, are expressly comprehended in this treaty of peace,
and have equal right thereto, as if the treaty of peace between them and
the crown of Sweden had been inserted here at full length: to which
purpose all hostilities whatsoever shall cease in general throughout all
the kingdoms, countries, and patrimonies belonging to the two reconciled
parties, whether situated within or out of the Roman empire, and there
shall be a solid and lasting peace established between the two aforesaid
powers. And as no plenipotentiary on the part of his Polish majesty and
the republic of Poland has assisted at this treaty of peace, held at
Nystadt, and that consequently they could not at one and the same time
renew the peace by a solemn treaty between his majesty the king of
Poland and the crown of Sweden, his majesty the king of Sweden does
therefore engage and promise, that he will send plenipotentiaries to
open the conferences, so soon as a place shall be appointed for the said
meeting, in order to conclude, through the mediation of his czarish
majesty, a lasting peace between the two crowns, provided nothing is
therein contained which may be prejudicial to the treaty of perpetual
peace made with his czarish majesty.

Art. 16. A free trade shall be regulated and established as soon as
possible, which shall subsist both by sea and land between the two
powers, their dominions, subjects, and inhabitants, by means of a
separate treaty on this head, to the good and advantage of their
respective dominions; and in the mean time the subjects of Russia and
Sweden shall have leave to trade freely in the empire of Russia and
kingdom of Sweden, so soon as the treaty of peace is ratified, after
paying the usual duties on the several kinds of merchandise; so that,
the subjects of Russia and Sweden shall reciprocally enjoy the same
privileges and prerogatives as are enjoyed by the closest friends of
either of the said states.

Art. 17. Restitution shall be made on both sides, after the ratification
of the peace, not only of the magazines which were before the
commencement of the war established in certain trading towns belonging
to the two powers, but also liberty shall be reciprocally granted to the
subjects of his czarish majesty and the king of Sweden to establish
magazines in the towns, harbours, and other places subject to both or
either of the said powers.

Art. 18. If any Swedish ships of war or merchant vessels shall have the
misfortune to be wrecked, or cast away by stress of weather, or any
other accident, on the coasts and harbours of Russia, his czarish
majesty's subjects shall be obliged to give them all aid and assistance
in their power to save their rigging and effects, and faithfully to
restore whatever may be drove on shore, if demanded, provided they are
properly rewarded. And the subjects of his majesty the king of Sweden
shall do the same in regard to such Russian ships and effects as may
have the misfortune to be wrecked or otherwise lost on the coasts of
Sweden; for which purpose, and to prevent all ill treatment, robbing,
and plundering, which commonly happens on such melancholy occasions, his
czarish majesty and the king of Sweden will cause a most rigorous
prohibition to be issued, and all who shall be found transgressing in
this point shall be punished on the spot.

Art. 19. And to prevent all possible cause or occasion of
misunderstanding between the two parties, in relation to sea affairs,
they have concluded and determined, that any Swedish ships of war, of
whatever number or size, that shall hereafter pass by any of his czarish
majesty's forts or castles, shall salute the same with their cannon,
which compliment shall be directly returned in the same manner by the
Russian fort or castle; and, _vice versa_, any Russian ships of war, of
whatever number or size, that shall hereafter pass by any fort or castle
belonging to his Swedish majesty, shall salute the same with a discharge
of their cannon, which compliment shall be instantly returned in the
same manner by the Swedish fort; and in case any one or more Swedish and
Russian ships shall meet at sea, or in any harbour or elsewhere, they
shall salute each other with a common discharge, as is usually practised
on such occasions between the ships of Sweden and Denmark.

Art. 20. It is mutually agreed between the two powers, no longer to
defray the expenses of the ministers of the two powers, as have been
done hitherto; but their representative ministers, plenipotentiaries,
and envoys, shall hereafter defray their own expenses and those of their
own attendants, as well on their journey as during their stay, and back
to their respective place of residence. On the other hand, either of the
two parties, on receiving timely notice of the arrival of an envoy,
shall order that their subjects give them all the assistance that may be
necessary to escort them safe on their journey.

Art. 21. His majesty the king of Sweden does on his part comprehend his
majesty the king of Great Britain in this treaty of peace, reserving
only the differences subsisting between their czarish and his Britannic
majesties, which they shall immediately endeavour to terminate in a
friendly manner; and such other powers, who shall be named by the two
reconciled parties within the space of three months, shall likewise be
included in this treaty of peace.

Art. 22. In case any misunderstanding shall hereafter arise between the
states and subjects of Sweden and Russia, it shall by no means prejudice
this treaty of perpetual peace; which shall nevertheless always be and
remain in full force agreeable to its intent, and commissaries shall
without delay be appointed on each side to inquire into and adjust all
disputes.

Art. 23. All those who have been guilty of high treason, murder, theft,
and other crimes, and those who deserted from Sweden to Russia, and from
Russia to Sweden, either singly or with their wives and children, shall
be immediately sent back, provided the complaining party of the country
from whence they made their escape, shall think fit to recal them, let
them be of what nation soever, and in the same condition as they were at
their arrival, together with their wives and children, as likewise with
all they had stolen, plundered, or taken away with them in their flight.

Art. 24. The exchange of the ratification of this treaty of peace, shall
be reciprocally made at Nystadt within the space of three weeks, after
the day of signing the same, or sooner, if possible. In witness whereof,
two copies of this treaty, exactly corresponding with each other, have
been drawn up, and confirmed by the plenipotentiary ministers on each
side, in virtue of the authority they have received from their
respective sovereigns; which copies they have signed with their own
hands, and sealed with their own seals. Done at Nystadt, this 30th day
of August, in the year of our Lord 1721. O. S.

                                   Jean Liliensted.
                                   Otto Reinhold Stroemfeld.
                                   Jacob Daniel Bruce.
                                   Henry-John-Frederic Osterman.


_Ordinance of the Emperor Peter I. for the crowning of the Empress
Catherine._

We, Peter the First, emperor and autocrator of all the Russias, &c. to
all our officers ecclesiastical, civil, and military, and all others of
the Russian nation, our faithful subjects.

No one can be ignorant that it has been a constant and invariable custom
among the monarchs of all Christian states, to cause their consorts to
be crowned, and that the same is at present practised, and hath
frequently been in former times by those emperors who professed the
holy faith of the Greek church; to wit, by the emperor Basilides, who
caused his wife Zenobia to be crowned; the emperor Justinian, his wife
Lucipina; the emperor Heraclius, his wife Martina: the emperor Leo, the
philosopher, his wife Mary; and many others, who have in like manner
placed the imperial crown on the head of their consorts, and whom it
would be too tedious here to enumerate.

It is also well known to every one how much we have exposed our person,
and faced the greatest dangers, for the good of our country during the
one and twenty years' course of the late war, which we have by the
assistance of God terminated in so honourable and advantageous a manner,
that Russia hath never beheld such a peace, nor ever acquired so great
glory as in the late war. Now the empress Catherine, our dearly beloved
wife, having greatly comforted and assisted us during the said war, and
also in several other our expeditions, wherein she voluntarily and
cheerfully accompanied us, assisting us with her counsel and advice in
every exigence, notwithstanding the weakness of her sex, particularly in
the battle against the Turks, on the banks of the river Pruth, wherein
our army was reduced to twenty thousand men, while that of the Turks
amounted to two hundred and seventy thousand, and on which desperate
occasion she signalized herself in a particular manner, by a courage and
presence of mind superior to her sex, which is well known to all our
army, and to the whole Russian empire: therefore, for these reasons, and
in virtue of the power which God has given us, we have resolved to
honour our said consort Catherine with the imperial crown, as a reward
for her painful services; and we propose, God willing, that this
ceremony shall be performed the ensuing winter at Moscow. And we do
hereby give notice of this our resolution to all who are faithful
subjects, in favour of whom our imperial affection is unalterable.


                                THE END.


         _S. Johnson & Son, Printers, Livesey St., Manchester._




FOOTNOTES:

[1] A French league contains three English miles.

[2] The Boristhenes, or Dnieper, is one of the largest rivers in Europe;
it rises in the Walchonske Forest, runs through Lithuania, the country
of the Zoporag Cossacks, and that of the Nagisch Tartars, and falls into
the Black Sea near Oczakow. It has thirteen cataracts within a small
distance.

[3] The reader will easily perceive, that the whole of this paragraph
relates only to the French language, for in English we make no such
distinctions in the name of these people, but always call them Russians.

[4] A collection of water lying between the gulf of Finland and lake
Onega; it is the largest, and said to contain a greater number of fish
than any other in Europe.

[5] We must not confound this river with another of the same name that
runs through Lithuania in Poland, and dividing Livonia and Courland,
falls into the Baltic at Dunamunder fort, below Riga.

[6] This was by the ancients reckoned among the most famous rivers in
the world, and the boundary between Asia and Europe. It issues from St.
John's Lake, not far from Tula, and after a long course, divides itself
into three arms, and falls into the sea below Azoph.

[7] A promontory of the island of Maggero in the north of Norway, and is
the most northern point in Europe.

[8] Grod, or gorod, signifies city in the Russian language.

[9] Memoirs of Strahlemberg, confirmed by those sent me from Russia.

[10] Memoirs sent from Petersburg.

[11] Memoirs sent from Petersburg.

[12] Called also the Ob. This large river issues from the lake Altin in
Calmuck Tartary, in Asia, from whence running north it forms the
boundary between Europe and Asia, and after traversing a vast tract of
above two thousand miles, it falls into a bay of the Frozen Sea.

[13] In the Russian language Irtish. This river runs from N. to S.
through all Russia, and falling into the former river, forms part of the
boundary between Asia and Europe.

[14] In the Russian language Tobolsky.

[15] His name was Sowastowslaw.

[16] This anecdote is taken from a private MS. entitled 'The
Ecclesiastical Government of Russia,' which is like wise deposited in
the public library.

[17] See page 35.

[18] Thus the Russians call this young man; but in all French authors we
find Romano, that language having no such letter as the W; others again
call him Romanoff.

[19] Or Chotsin, a town of Upper Moldavia in European Turkey, well
fortified both by nature and art, situated on the Dniester, and subject
to the Turks, from whom it was taken by the Russians in 1739.

[20] This must certainly be a mistake of M. de Voltaire, or an error in
the press; for the lady here spoken of was the daughter of Matthias
Apraxim, a person on whom Theodore had lately conferred nobility.

[21] Extracted wholly from the memoirs sent from Moscow and Petersburg.

[22] Here M. de Voltaire seems to have greatly mistaken the sense of
this word. Raspop not being a proper name, in which sense he takes it,
but signifies a degraded priest.

[23] We suppose the author means Moscow.

[24] Or Cossano, a small town and abbey in the Milanese. On the Adda,
near this place, an obstinate battle was fought between the Germans and
French, in 1705, when prince Eugene defeated the duke of Vendome.

[25] A town and abbey on the borders of Westphalia, in Germany; the
abbot of which is a sovereign prince, and has a seat in the imperial
diet.

[26] Or Fuld, a town and abbey of Hesse, in Germany; situate on a river
of the same name. It is governed by an abbot, who is a prince of the
empire.

[27] An imperial city of Suabia, in Germany, situate on the Ifar.

[28] How are we to reconcile this with what the author tells us in the
latter part of the third chapter, where he says, that this princess,
perceiving that her brother Theodore was near his end, declined retiring
to a convent, as was the usual custom of the princesses of the imperial
family.

[29] We find, in the memoirs of count Strahlemberg, a Swedish officer,
who was taken prisoner at the battle of Pultowa, and continued many
years at the court of czar Peter, the following account of the true
cause of this extraordinary kind of hydrophobia. When Peter was about
five years of age, his mother took him with her in a coach for an
airing, and having to pass a dam, where there was a great fall of water
the child, who was then sleeping in his nurse's lap, was so terrified by
the rushing of the water (the noise of which waked him suddenly out of
his sleep), that he was seized with a violent fever, and, after his
recovery, he retained such a dread of that element, that he could not
bear the sight even of any standing water, much less to hear a running
stream.

[30] Memoirs of Petersburg and Moscow.

[31] This should certainly be four years; as we can hardly suppose a boy
of fourteen years and a half, would be received into the military
service of any country, and much less by the Dutch at that period of
time, when they stood in need of able and experienced soldiers, to
withstand the attacks of the French, who breathed nothing less than the
utter subversion of their state.

[32] General Le Fort's MSS.

[33] General Le Fort's MSS.

[34] Extracted from memoirs sent from China; also from Petersburg, and
from letters published in Du Halde's History of China.

[35] A famous and considerable river of the Asiatic part of the empire
of Russia, which falls into the eastern ocean. It was formerly called
Charan Muran, but at present the Chinese and Mauschurs give it the name
of Sagalin Ula. It also bears the several appellations of Jamur, Onon,
Helong, Kiang, and Skilka. It is formed by the junction of the rivers
Sckilk and Argun, and is navigable to the sea.

[36] Busching, the famous geographer, says, that its whole length is no
more than four hundred miles, so that there must be a very great error
in one or other of these authors.

[37] Memoirs of the jesuits Pereira and Gerbillon.

[38] 1689, Sept. 8, new style. Memoirs of China.

[39] The present reigning empress Catharine seems even to exceed her
aunt in lenity, which together with the superior qualifications of this
princess, affords her people the most happy presage of a glorious reign;
and it is not without reason, that the most sensible amongst them
flatter themselves with the hope, that under this august princess, the
Russian empire will arrive at its highest pinnacle of glory.

[40] Le Fort's Memoirs.

[41] It is in consequence of this glorious and equitable distinction,
that at this day we find nobility gives no precedence in the court of
Russia; nor can the son of a prince appear there in any other rank, than
that which his situation in the army gives him; while a private citizen,
who by his merit has raised himself above his condition, receives all
the honours due to his post; or more properly speaking, to the merit
which obtained him that post. A reputation of this kind would, methinks,
be attended with great advantages, both in England and France, as it
would be a means to raise in the youth of all ranks, a virtuous and
noble emulation.

[42] General Le Fort's MSS.

[43] The Petersburg Memoirs, and Memoirs of Le Fort.

[44] Le Fort's MS. memoirs.

[45] Precop, or Perekop, once a fortress on the Isthmus, which joins the
peninsula of Crim Tartary to the main land of little Tartary, in
European Turkey, and thence considered as the key to that country. It
has its name from the ditches cut across for the defence of the
peninsula.

[46] These were two scholars from Christ Church Hospital, commonly
called blue coat boys.

[47] The czar was particularly fond of this nobleman, because he was a
great lover of maritime affairs, frequently rowed and sailed with him
upon the water, and gave him what information he could concerning
shipping.

[48] Le Fort's MSS. and those of Petersburg.

[49] Le Fort's MSS.

[50] A most extraordinary instance of the obstinate attachment of the
Russians to their old customs, happened in the time of the czar
Bassilowitz, and undoubtedly influenced him not a little in the severity
with which he treated his people. The king of Poland, Stephen Battori,
having recovered Livonia, went himself into that province to establish a
new form of government. According to the constant custom there, when any
peasant, all of whom were treated as slaves, had committed a fault, he
was whipped with a rod till the blood came. The king was willing to
commute this barbarous punishment for one that was more moderate; but
the peasants, insensible of the favour designed them, threw themselves
at his feet, and intreated him not to make any alterations in their
ancient customs, because they had experienced, that all innovations, far
from procuring them the least redress, had always made their burthens
sit the heavier on them.

[51] Memoirs of captain Perry, the engineer, employed by Peter the
Great, in Russia, and MSS. of Le Fort.

[52] Captain Perry, in p. 184 of his memoirs, says, that these
executions being performed in the depth of winter, their bodies were
immediately frozen; those who were beheaded, were ordered to be left in
the same posture as when executed, in ranks upon the ground, with their
heads lying by them: and those who were hanged round the three walls of
the city, were left hanging the whole winter, to the view of the people,
till the warm weather began to come on in the spring, when they were
taken down and buried together in a pit, to prevent infection. This
author adds, that there were other gibbets placed on all the public
roads leading to Moscow, where others of these rebels were hanged.

[53] MSS. of Le Fort.

[54] Somewhat like those of our blue coat boys in England.

[55] 20th Sept. 1698. It is to be observed, that I always follow the new
style in my dates.

[56] Norberg, chaplain and confessor to Charles XII. says, in his
history, 'That he had the insolence to complain of oppressions, and that
he was condemned to lose his honour and life.' This is speaking like the
high-priest of despotism. He should have observed, that no one can
deprive a citizen of his honour for doing his duty.

[57] See the History of Charles XII.

[58] A town on the river Lycus, in the province of Assyria, now called
Curdestan, where Alexander the Great fought his third and decisive
battle, with Darius, king of Persia.

[59] Vol. I. p. 439, of the 4to. edition, printed at the Hague.

[60] The chaplain Norberg, pretends, that, immediately after the battle
of Narva, the Grand Seignior wrote a letter of congratulation to the
king of Sweden, in these terms. 'The sultan Basha, by the grace of God,
to Charles XII. &c.' The letter was dated from the æra of the creation
of the world.

[61] See History of Charles XII.

[62] This chapter and the following, are taken entirely from the journal
of Peter the Great, sent me from Petersburg.

[63] We must beg leave to remark in this place, that a king of England
has the power of doing good in virtue of his own authority, and may do
evil if so disposed, by having a majority in a corrupt parliament;
whereas, a king of Poland can neither do good nor evil, not having it in
his power to dispose even of a pair of colours.

[64] This seems a mistake; our author probably meant to say Kercholme,
because Wibourg is not on the lake Ladoga, but on the gulf of Finland.

[65] Taken from the journal of Peter the Great.

[66] Some writers call it Nyenschantz.

[67] Petersburg was founded on Whitsunday, the 27th May, 1703.

[68] About sixty thousand pounds sterling.

[69] All the foregoing chapters, and likewise those which follow, are
taken from the journals of Peter the Great, and the papers sent me from
Petersburg, carefully compared with other memoirs.

[70] Menzikoff's parents were vassals of the monastery of Cosmopoly: at
the age of thirteen, he went to Moscow, and was taken into the service
of a pastry-cook. His employment was singing ballads, and crying puffs
and cakes about the streets. One day, as he was following this
occupation, the czar happening to hear him, and to be diverted with one
of his songs, sent for him, and asked him if he would sell his pies and
his basket? The boy answered, that his business was to sell his pies,
but he must ask his master's leave to sell his basket; yet as every
thing belonged to his prince, his majesty had only to lay his commands
upon him. The czar was so pleased with this answer, that he immediately
ordered him to court, where he gave him at first a mean employment; but
being every day more pleased with his wit, he thought fit to place him
about his person, and to make him groom of his bed-chamber, from whence
he gradually raised him to the highest preferments. He was tall and well
shaped. At his first coming into the czar's service, he inlisted in Le
Fort's company, and acquired, under that general's instruction, such a
degree of knowledge and skill, as enabled him to command armies, and to
become one of the bravest and most successful generals in Russia.

[71] M. de Voltaire calls this city Wibourg, in this and some other
places of his history. The French are not always very attentive to the
right names of places, but here it is of some consequence. Wibourg is
the capital of Jutland in Denmark. Wiburn, the city here meant, is the
capital of Carelia in Russian Finland.

[72] The czar's manifesto in the Ukraine, 1709.

[73] The impartiality of an historian obliges us in this place to
advertise our readers, that it was not the fault of Augustus, that
Patkul was delivered up to the king of Sweden; Augustus having privately
sent orders to the commandant of the fort of Konigstein, where Patkul
was then confined, to suffer his prisoner to make his escape in time.
But the avarice of this officer proved fatal to the life of the unhappy
captive, and to the character of his own prince; for while he was
endeavouring to make the best bargain he could for himself, the time
slipped inconceivably away; and while they were yet debating upon the
price of the proposed releasement, the guards sent by Charles came and
demanded Patkul in the name of their sovereign. The commandant was
forced to obey, and the unhappy victim was delivered up, contrary to the
intentions of Augustus.

[74] What would those Swedes say, were they living, to see the pitiful
figure their descendants have made in this war.

[75] In the Russian language, Soeza.

[76] This is acknowledged by Norberg himself, vol. ii. p. 263.

[77] Vol. II. page 279.

[78] The Memoirs of Peter the Great, by the pretended boyard Iwan
Nestesuranoy, printed at Amsterdam, in 1730, say, that the king of
Sweden, before he passed the Boristhenes, sent a general officer with
proposals of peace to the czar. The four volumes of these Memoirs are
either a collection of untruths and absurdities, or compilations from
common newspapers.

[79] This fact is likewise found in a letter, printed before the
Anecdotes of Russia, p. 23.

[80] La Motraye, in the relation of his travels, quotes a letter from
Charles XII. to the grand vizier; but this letter is false, as are most
of the relations of that mercenary writer; and Norberg himself
acknowledges that the king of Sweden never could be prevailed on to
write to the grand vizier.

[81] The czar, says the preface to lord Whitworth's account of Russia,
who had been absolute enough to civilize savages, had no idea, could
conceive none, of the privileges of a nation civilized in the only
rational manner by laws and liberties. He demanded immediate and severe
punishment of the offenders: he demanded it of a princess, whom he
thought interested, to assert the sacredness of the persons of monarchs,
even in their representatives; and he demanded it with threats of
wreaking his vengeance on all English merchants and subjects established
in his dominions. In this light the menaces were formidable; otherwise,
happily, the rights of the whole people were more sacred here than the
persons of foreign ministers. The czar's memorials urged the queen with
the satisfaction which she herself had extorted, when only the boat and
servants of the earl of Manchester had been insulted at Venice. That
state had broken through the fundamental laws, to content the queen of
Great Britain. How noble a picture of government, when a monarch, that
can force another nation to infringe its constitution, dare not violate
his own? One may imagine with what difficulty our secretaries of state
must have laboured through all the ambages of phrase in English, French,
German, and Russ, to explain to Muscovite ears and Muscovite
understandings, the meaning of indictments, pleadings, precedents,
juries, and verdicts; and how impatiently Peter must have listened to
promises of a hearing next term? With what astonishment must he have
beheld a great queen, engaging to endeavour to prevail on her parliament
to pass an act to prevent any such outrage for the future? What honour
does it not reflect on the memory of that princess to own to an
arbitrary emperor, that even to appease him she dare not put the meanest
of her subjects to death uncondemned by law!--There are, says she, in
one of her dispatches to him, insuperable difficulties, with respect to
the ancient and fundamental laws of the government of our people; which
we fear do not permit so severe and rigorous a sentence to be given, as
your imperial majesty at first seemed to expect in this case; and we
persuade ourself, that your imperial majesty, who are a prince famous
for clemency and exact justice, will not require us, who are the
guardian and protectress of the laws, to inflict a punishment upon our
subjects, which the law does not impower us to do. Words so venerable
and heroic, that this broil ought to become history, and be exempted
from the oblivion due to the silly squabbles of ambassadors and their
privileges. If Anne deserved praise for her conduct on this occasion, it
reflects still greater glory on Peter, that this ferocious man should
listen to these details, and had moderation and justice enough to be
persuaded by the reason of them.

[82] Afterwards created lord Whitworth, by king George I.

[83] The account this chaplain gives of the demands of the grand
seignior is equally false and puerile. He says, that sultan Achmet,
previous to his declaring war against the czar, sent to that prince a
paper, containing the conditions on which he was willing to grant him
peace. These conditions, Norberg tells us, were as follows: 'That Peter
should renounce his alliance with Augustus, reinstate Stanislaus in the
possession of the crown of Poland, restore all Livonia to Charles XII.,
and pay that prince the value in ready money of what he had taken from
him at the battle of Pultowa; and, lastly, that the czar should demolish
his newly-built city of Petersburg.' This piece was forged by one
Brazey, a half-starved pamphleteer, and author of a work entitled,
Memoirs, Satirical, Historical, and Entertaining. It was from this
fountain Norberg drew his intelligence; and however he may have been the
confessor of Charles XII. he certainly does not appear to have been his
confidant.

[84] The new vizier embraced every opportunity of affronting the czar,
in the person of his envoy, and particularly in giving the French
ambassador the preference. It was customary, on the promotion of the
grand vizier, for all the foreign ministers to request an audience of
congratulation. Count Tolstoy was the first who demanded that audience;
but was answered--That the precedence had always been given to the
ambassador of France: whereupon Tolstoy informed the vizier--That he
must be deprived of the pleasure of waiting on him at all: which, being
maliciously represented, as expressing the utmost contempt of his
person, and the khan of Tartary being at the same time instigated to
make several heavy complaints against the conduct of the Russians on the
frontiers, count Tolstoy was immediately committed to the castle of the
Seven Towers.

[85] It is very strange that so many writers always confound Walachia
and Moldavia together.

[86] This duke of Holstein, at the time he married the daughter of Peter
I. was a prince of very inconsiderable power, though of one of the most
ancient houses in Germany. His ancestors had been stripped of great part
of their dominions by the kings of Denmark; so that, at the time of this
marriage, he found himself greatly circumscribed in point of
possessions; but, from this epoch of his alliance with the czar of
Muscovy, we may date the rise of the ducal branch of Holstein, which now
fills the thrones of Russia and Sweden, and is likewise in possession of
the bishopric of Lubec, which, in all probability, will fall to this
house, notwithstanding the late election, which at present is the
subject of litigation, the issue of which will, to all appearance,
terminate in favour of the prince, son to the present bishop, through
the protection of the courts of Vienna and Petersburg. The empress
Catherine, who now sits on the throne of Russia is herself descended
from this august house, by the side of her mother, who was sister to the
king of Sweden, to the prince-bishop of Lubec, and to the famous prince
George of Holstein, whose achievements made so much noise during the
war. This princess, whose name was Elizabeth, married the reigning
prince of Anbak Zerbst, whose house was indisputably the most ancient;
and, in former times, the most powerful in all Germany, since they can
trace their pedigree from the dukes of Ascania, who were formerly
masters of the two electorates of Saxony and Brandenburg, as appears by
their armorial bearings, which are, quarterly, the arms of Saxony and
Brandenburg. Of this branch of Zerbst there is remaining only the
present reigning prince, brother to the empress Catherine, who, in case
he should die without issue, will succeed to the principality of Yevern,
in East Friesland; from all which it appears already, that the family of
Holstein is at present the most powerful in Europe, as being in
possession of three crowns in the North.--[Since the above was written
important changes have taken place.]

[87] This same count Poniatowsky, who was at that time in the service of
Charles XII., died afterwards castellan of Cracovia, and first senator
of the republic of Poland, after having enjoyed all the dignities to
which a nobleman of that country can attain. His connexions with Charles
XII. during that prince's retirement at Bender, first made him taken
notice of; and, it is to be wished, for the honour of his memory, that
he had waited till the conclusion of a peace between Sweden and Poland,
to be reconciled to king Augustus; but following the dictates of
ambition, rather than those of strict honour, he sacrificed the
interests of both Charles and Stanislaus, to the care of his own
fortune; and, while he appeared the most zealous in their cause, he
secretly did them all the ill services he could at the Ottoman Porte: to
this double dealing he owed the immense fortune of which he was
afterwards possessed. He married the princess Czartoriski, daughter of
the castellan of Vilna, a lady, for her heroic spirit, worthy to have
been born in the times of ancient Rome: when her eldest son, the present
grand chamberlain of the crown, had that famous dispute with Count
Tarlo, palatine of Lublin; a dispute which made so much noise in all the
public papers in the year 1742, this lady, after having made him shoot
at a mark every day, for three weeks, in order to be expert at firing,
said to him, as he was mounting his horse, to go to meet his
adversary--'Go, my son; but, if you do not acquit yourself with honour
in this affair, never appear before me again.' This anecdote may serve
as a specimen of the character of our heroine. The family of Czartoriski
is descended from the ancient Jagellins, who were, for several ages, in
lineal possession of the crown of Poland; and is, at this day, extremely
rich and powerful, by the alliances it has contracted, but they have
never been able to acquire popularity; and so long as count Tarlo (who
was killed in a duel with the young count Poniatowsky) lived, had no
influence in the dictines, or lesser assembly of the states, because
Tarlo, who was the idol of the nobles, and a sworn enemy to the
Czartoriski family, carried every thing before him, and nothing was done
but according to his pleasure.

[88] About seventy pounds sterling.

[89] French money, which is always counted by livres and makes about
three millions sterling.

[90] A town in Bohemia famous for its mineral springs.

[91] About fifty thousand pounds sterling.

[92] Private memoirs of Bassowitz, Jan. 21, 1712.

[93] A town of Sleswic, in Denmark, situated on the river Eyder,
fourteen miles from the German Ocean, having a very commodious harbour.

[94] About twelve hundred pounds sterling.

[95] In the preamble to this institution, the czar declared, that it was
to perpetuate the memory of her love in his distressed condition on the
banks of the river Pruth. He invested her with full power to bestow it
on such of her own sex as she should think proper. The ensigns of this
order are, a broad white riband, and wore over the right shoulder, with
a medal of St. Catherine, adorned with precious stones, and the motto,
'Out of love and fidelity.'

[96] Inhabitants of a small town of Hungarian Dalmatia, with a harbour,
from whence the neighbouring sea takes the name of Golfo di Bickariga.

[97] The conspiracy carried on in France by cardinal Alberoni, was
discovered in a very singular manner. The Spanish ambassador's
secretary, who used frequently to go to the house of one La Follon, a
famous procuress of Paris, to amuse himself for an hour or two after the
fatigues of business, had appointed a young nymph, whom he was fond of,
to meet him there at nine o'clock in the evening, but did not come to
her till near two o'clock in the morning. The lady, as may be supposed,
reproached him with the little regard he paid to her charms, or his own
promise; but he excused himself, by saying, that he had been obliged to
stay to finish a long dispatch in ciphers, which was to be sent away
that very night by a courier to Spain: so saying, he undressed and threw
himself into bed, where he quietly fell asleep. In pulling off his
clothes, he had, by accident, dropped a paper out of his pocket, which,
by its bulk, raised in the nymph that curiosity so natural to her sex.
She picked it up, and read it partly over, when the nature of its
contents made her resolve to communicate them to La Follon: accordingly,
she framed some excuse for leaving the room, and immediately went to the
apartment of the old lady, and opened her budget. La Follon, who was a
woman of superior understanding to most in her sphere, immediately saw
the whole consequence of the affair; and, after having recommended to
the girl, to amuse her gallant as long as possible, she immediately went
to waken the regent, to whom she had access at all hours, for matters of
a very different nature to the present. This prince, whose presence of
mind was equal to every exigency, immediately dispatched different
couriers to the frontiers; in consequence of which, the Spanish
ambassador's messenger was stopped at Bayonne, and his dispatches taken
from him; upon deciphering of which, they were found exactly to agree
with the original delivered to the regent by La Follon: upon this the
prince of Cellamar, the Spanish ambassador was put under an arrest, and
all his papers seized; after which he was sent under a strong guard to
the frontiers, where they left him to make the best of his way to his
own country. Thus an event, which would have brought the kingdom of
France to the verge of destruction, was frustrated by a votary of Venus,
and a priestess of the temple of pleasure.

[98] As these letters and answers afford the most striking evidence of
the czar's prudence, and the prince's insincerity, and will convey to
the reader a clear idea of the grounds and motives of this extraordinary
transaction, we have inserted the following translation of them. The
first letter from the czar to his son, is dated the 27th of October,
1715, and displays a noble spirit of religion, with the most ardent
desire of leaving a successor who should perpetuate his name and glory
to future ages.

'Son,' says the czar to him, 'you cannot be ignorant of what is known to
all the world, that our people groaned under the oppression of the
Swedes, before the beginning of this present war. By the usurped
possession of many of our maritime ports, so necessary to our state,
they cut us off from all commerce with the rest of mankind; and we saw,
with deep regret, that they had even cast a mist over the eyes of
persons of the greatest discernment, who tamely brooked their slavery,
and made no complaints to us. You know how much it cost us at the
beginning of this war, to make ourselves thoroughly experienced, and
to stand our ground in spite of all the advantages which our
irreconcileable enemies gained over us. The Almighty alone has conducted
us by his hand, and conducts us still. We submitted to that probationary
state with resignation to the will of God, not doubting but it was he
who made us pass through it: he has accepted our submission; and the
same enemy, before whom we were wont to tremble, now trembles before us.
These are effects, which, under God's assistance, we owe to our labour,
and those of our faithful and affectionate sons, and Russian subjects.
But while I survey the successes with which God has blessed our arms, if
I turn my eyes on the posterity that is to succeed me, my soul is
pierced with anguish; and I have no enjoyment of my present happiness,
when I carry my views into futurity. All my felicity vanishes away like
a dream, since you, my son, reject all means of rendering yourself
capable of governing well after me. Your incapacity is voluntary; for
you cannot excuse yourself from want of genius: it is inclination alone
you want. Far less can you plead the want of bodily strength, as if God
had not furnished you sufficiently in that respect: for though your
constitution be none the strongest, it cannot be reckoned weak. Yet you
will not so much as hear of warlike exercises; though it is by those
means we are risen from that obscurity in which we were buried, and have
made ourselves known to the nations about us, whose esteem we now enjoy.
I am far from desiring you to cherish in yourself a disposition to make
war for its own sake, and without just reasons: all I demand of you is,
that you would apply yourself to learn the military art; because,
without understanding the rules of war, it is impossible to be qualified
for government. I might set before your eyes many examples of what I
propose to you; but shall only mention the Greeks, with whom we are
united by the same profession of faith. Whence came the declension of
their empire, but from the neglect of arms? Sloth and inaction have
subjected them to tyrants, and that slavery under which they have
groaned. You are much mistaken if you imagine it is enough for a prince
that he have good generals to act under his orders: no, my son, it is
upon the chief himself that the eyes of the world are fixed; they study
his inclinations, and easily slide into the imitation of his manners. My
brother, during his reign, loved magnificence in dress, and splendid
equipages, and horses richly caparisoned; the taste of this country was
not much formed that way; but the pleasures of the prince soon became
those of the subjects, who are readily led to imitate him both in the
objects of his love and disgust. If people are so easily disengaged from
things that are only for pleasure, will they not be still more prone to
forget, and in process of time wholly to lay aside the use of arms, the
exercise of which grows the more irksome the less they are habituated to
them? You have no inclination to learn the profession of war; you do not
apply yourself to it; and consequently will never know it. How then will
you be able to command others, and to judge of the rewards which those
subjects deserve who do their duty, or of the punishment due to such as
fall short of obedience? You must judge only by other people's eyes; and
will be considered as a young bird, which reaching out its beak, is as
ready to receive poison as proper nourishment. You say, the infirm state
of your health makes you unfit to bear the fatigues of war; but that is
a frivolous excuse. I desire you not to undergo the fatigues of that
profession, though it is there that all great captains are begun; but I
wish you had an inclination to the military art; and reason may give it
you, if you have it not from nature. Had you once this inclination, it
would occupy your thoughts at all times, even in your hours of sickness.
Ask those who remember my brother's reign: his state of health was much
more infirm than your's; he could not manage a horse of never so little
mettle, nor hardly mount him: yet he loved horses, and perhaps there
never will be in the country finer stables than his. Hence you see, that
success does not always depend upon personal labour, but upon the
inclination. If you think that there are princes, whose affairs fail not
to succeed, though they go not to war in person, you are in the right;
but if they go not to the field of battle, they have, however, an
inclination to go, and are acquainted with the military art. For
instance, the late king of France did not always take the field himself;
but we know to what a degree he was a lover of war, and how many
glorious exploits he performed therein; which made his campaigns be
called the theatre and school of the world. The bent of that prince's
mind was not turned to military affairs only, he had also a taste for
the polite arts, for manufactures, and other institutions, which have
made his kingdom more flourishing than any other. After all these
remonstrances which I have laid before you, I return to my first
subject, which immediately concerns yourself. I am a man, and
consequently must die: to whom shall I leave the care of finishing what,
by God's grace, I have begun, and of preserving what I have in part
recovered? To a son who, like that slothful servant in the gospel,
buries his talent in the earth, and neglects to improve what God has
committed to his trust? How often have I reproached you for your
sullenness and indocility? I have been obliged to chastise you on that
account. For these several years past I have hardly spoke to you,
because I almost despair of bringing you back to the right way;
discouraged and disheartened by the fruitlessness of all my endeavours.
You loiter on in supine indolence; abandoning yourself to shameful
pleasures, without extending your foresight to the dangerous
consequences which such a conduct must produce both to yourself and the
whole state: you confine yourself to the government of your own house,
and in that station you acquit yourself very ill; St. Paul has told us,
'he that knows not how to govern his own house, how shall he be able to
rule the church of God?' In like manner I say to you, since you know not
how to manage your domestic affairs, how can you be able to govern a
kingdom? I am determined, at last, to signify to you my final purpose;
being willing, however, to defer the execution of it for a short time,
to see if you will reform: if not, know that I am resolved to deprive
you of the succession, as I would lop off a useless branch. Do not
imagine, that because I have no other child but you,[99] I mean by this
only to intimidate you: I will most certainly execute my resolution; and
God requires it of me: for, since I spare not my own life for the sake
of my country, and the welfare of my people, why should I allow an
effeminate prince to ascend the throne after me, who would sacrifice the
interest of the subject to his pleasures? and should he be obliged to
expose his life in their behalf, would leave them to perish, rather than
redress their grievances. I will call in a mere stranger to the crown,
if he be but worthy of that honour, sooner than my own son, if he is
unworthy.

                                                                'PETER.'

To this letter the czarowitz replied: 'Most gracious sovereign and
father, I have read the letter which your majesty sent me of the 27th of
October, 1715, after the interment of my wife; and all the answer I can
make to it is, that if your majesty is determined to deprive me of the
succession to the crown of Russia, on account of my inability, your will
be done. I even request it of you very earnestly; because I judge not
myself fit for government. My memory is greatly impaired; and without
memory there is no managing affairs. The powers both of my body and mind
are much weakened by the diseases to which I have been incident, and I
am thereby incapacitated for the rule of so great a people. Such a
charge requires a man far more vigorous than I am. For these reasons I
am not ambitious to succeed you (whom God preserve through a length of
years) in the crown of Russia, even though I had no brother, as I have
one at present, whom God long preserve. As little will I for the future
set up any claim to the succession: to the truth of which I solemnly
swear, taking God to be my witness; and in testimony thereof I write and
sign these presents. I put my children into your hands: and for myself I
ask no more of you than a bare maintenance during my life, leaving the
whole to your pleasure.

                                           'Your humble servant and son,

                                                               'ALEXIS.'

Peter soon penetrated through the disguise his son had assumed, and
therefore wrote him the above letter, dated January 19, 1716, and which
he called his 'Last Admonition.'

[99] This letter was written about eight days before the birth of Peter
Patrowitz, the czar's second son.

[100] This letter was couched in the following terms:--'Most gracious
sovereign and father, yesterday morning I received your letter, of the
19th of this month: my indisposition hinders me from writing to you at
large, but I am willing to embrace the monastic state, and I beg your
gracious consent thereto.

                                        'Your servant, and unworthy son,

                                                               'ALEXIS.'

[101] The prince's renunciation was couched in the following terms:--'I,
the undernamed, declare upon the holy gospel, that on account of the
crimes I have committed against his czarish majesty, my father and
sovereign, as set forth in his manifesto, I am, through my own fault,
excluded from the throne of Russia. Therefore I confess and acknowledge
that exclusion to be just, as having merited it by my own fault and
unworthiness; and I hereby oblige myself, and swear in the presence of
Almighty God, in unity of nature, and trinity of persons, as my supreme
Judge, to submit in all things to my father's will, never to set up a
claim or pretension to the succession, or accept of it under any pretext
whatever, acknowledging my brother Peter Petrowitz as lawful successor
to the crown. In testimony whereof, I kiss the holy cross, and sign
these presents with my own hand.

                                                               'ALEXIS.'

[102] As this extraordinary piece cannot fail of being interesting to
most part of our readers, we have ventured to subjoin the whole of it in
a note, our author having only given some few extracts.


_The Czar's Declaration._

Peter I. by the grace of God, czar, emperor of Russia, &c. to all our
faithful subjects, ecclesiastical, military, and civil, of all the
states of the Russian nation. It is notorious, and well known to the
greatest part of our faithful subjects, and chiefly to those who live in
the places of our residence, or who are in our service, with how much
care and application we have caused our eldest son Alexis to be brought
up and educated; having given him for that purpose, from his infancy,
tutors to teach him the Russian tongue, and foreign languages, and to
instruct him in all arts and sciences, in order not only to bring him up
in our Christian orthodox faith of the Greek profession, but also in the
knowledge of political and military affairs, and likewise in the
constitution of foreign countries, their customs and languages; through
the reading of history, and other books, in all manner of sciences,
becoming a prince of his high rank, he might acquire the qualifications
worthy of a successor to our throne of Great Russia. Nevertheless, we
have seen with grief, that all attention and care, for the education and
instruction of our son, proved ineffectual and useless, seeing he always
swerved from his filial obedience, shewing no application for what was
becoming a worthy successor, and slighting the precepts of the masters
we had appointed for him; but, on the contrary, frequenting disorderly
persons, from whom he could learn nothing good, or that would be
advantageous and useful to him. We have not neglected often to endeavour
to reclaim, and bring him back to his duty, sometimes by caresses and
gentle means, sometimes by reprimands, sometimes by paternal
corrections. We have more than once taken him with us into our army and
the field, that he might be instructed in the art of war, as one of the
chief sciences for the defence of his country; guarding him, at the same
time, from all hazard of the succession, though we exposed ourself to
manifest perils and dangers. We have at other times left him at Moscow,
putting into his hands a sort of regency in the empire, in order to form
him in the art of government, and that he might learn how to reign after
us. We have likewise sent him into foreign countries, in hopes and
expectation, that seeing, in his travels, governments so well regulated,
this would excite in him some emulation and an inclination to apply
himself to do well. But all our care has been fruitless, and like the
seed of the doctrine fallen upon a rock; for he has not only refused to
follow that which is good, but even is come to hate it, without shewing
any inclination, or disposition, either for military or political
affairs; hourly and continually conversing with base and disorderly
persons, whose morals are rude and abominable. As we were resolved to
endeavour, by all imaginable means, to reclaim him from that disorderly
course, and to inspire him with an inclination to converse with persons
of virtue and honour; we exhorted him to choose a consort among the
chief foreign houses, as is usual in other countries, and hath been
practised by our ancestors, the czars of Russia, who have contracted
alliances by marriages with other sovereign houses, and we have left him
at liberty to make a choice. He declared his inclination for the
princess, grand-daughter of the duke of Wolfenbuttle, then reigning,
sister-in-law to his imperial majesty the emperor of the Romans, now
reigning, and cousin to the king of Great Britain; and having desired us
to procure him that alliance, and permit him to marry that princess, we
readily consented thereunto, without any regard to the great expense
which was necessarily occasioned by that marriage: but, after its
consummation, we found ourselves disappointed of the hopes we had, that
the change in the condition of our son would produce good fruits, and
change his bad inclinations; for, notwithstanding his spouse was, as far
as we have been able to observe, a wise, sprightly princess, and of a
virtuous conduct, and that he himself had chosen her, he nevertheless
lived with her in the greatest disunion, while he redoubled his
affection for lewd people, bringing thereby a disgrace upon our house in
the eyes of foreign powers to whom that princess was related, which drew
upon us many complaints and reproaches. Our frequent advices and
exhortations to him, to reform his conduct, proved ineffectual, and he
at last violated the conjugal faith, and gave his affection to a
prostitute of the most servile and low condition, living publicly in
that crime with her, to the great contempt of his lawful spouse, who
soon after died; and it was believed that her grief, occasioned by the
disorderly life of her husband, hastened the end of her days. When we
saw his resolution to persevere in his vicious courses, we declared to
him, at the funeral of his consort, that if he did not for the future
conform to our will, and apply himself to things becoming a prince,
presumptive heir to so great an empire, we would deprive him of the
succession, without any regard to his being our only son (our second son
was not then born) and that he ought not to rely upon his being such,
because we would rather choose for our successor a stranger worthy
thereof, than an unworthy son; that we would not leave our empire to
such a successor, who would ruin and destroy what we have, by God's
assistance, established, and tarnish the glory and honour of the Russian
nation, for the acquiring of which we had sacrificed our ease and our
health, and willingly exposed our life on several occasions; besides,
that the fear of God's judgment would not permit us to leave the
government of such vast territories in the hands of one whose
insufficiency and unworthiness we were not ignorant of. In short, we
exhorted him in the most pressing terms we could make use of, to behave
himself with discretion, and gave him time to repent and return to his
duty. His answer to these remonstrances was, that he acknowledged
himself guilty in all these points; but alleged the weakness of his
parts and genius, which did not permit him to apply himself to the
sciences, and other functions recommended to him: he owned himself
incapable of our succession, and desired us to discharge him from the
same. Nevertheless, we continued to exhort him with a paternal
affection, and joining menaces to our exhortations; we forgot nothing to
bring him back to the right way. The operations of the war having
obliged us to repair to Denmark, we left him at Petersburg, to give him
time to return to his duty, and amend his ways; and, afterwards, upon
the repeated advices we received of the continuance of his disorderly
life, we sent him orders to come to us at Copenhagen, to make the
campaign, that he might thereby the better form himself. But, forgetting
the fear and commandments of God, who enjoins obedience even to private
parents, and much more to those who are at the same time sovereigns, our
paternal cares had no other return than unheard-of ingratitude; for,
instead of coming to us as we ordered, he withdrew, with large sums of
money, and his infamous concubine, with whom he continued to live in a
criminal course, and put himself under the protection of the emperor,
raising against us, his father and his lord, numberless calumnies and
false reports, as if we did persecute him, and intended, without cause,
to deprive him of the succession; alleging, moreover, that even his life
was not safe if he continued with us, and desired the emperor not only
to give him refuge in his dominions, but also to protect him against us
by force of arms. Every one may judge, what shame and dishonour this
conduct of our son hath drawn upon us and our empire, in the face of the
whole world; the like instance is hardly to be found in history. The
emperor, though informed of his excesses, and how he had lived with his
consort, sister-in-law to his imperial majesty, thought fit, however,
upon these pressing instances, to appoint him a place where he might
reside; and he desired farther, that he might be so private there, that
we might not come to the knowledge of it. Meanwhile his long stay having
made us fear, out of a tender and fatherly affection for him, that some
misfortune had befallen him, we sent persons several ways to get
intelligence of him, and, after a great deal of trouble, we were at last
informed by the captain of our guard, Alexander Romanzoff, that he was
privately kept in an imperial fortress at Tyrol; whereupon we wrote a
letter, with our own hand, to the emperor, to desire that he might be
sent back to us: but, notwithstanding the emperor acquainted him with
our demands, and exhorted him to return to us, and submit to our will,
as being his father and lord; yet he alleged, with a great many
calumnies against us, that he ought not to be delivered into our hands,
as if we had been his enemy, and a tyrant, from whom he had nothing to
expect but death. In short, he persuaded his imperial majesty, instead
of sending him back at that time to us, to remove him to some remote
place in his dominions, namely, Naples in Italy, and keep him there
secretly in the castle, under a borrowed name. Nevertheless, we having
notice of the place where he was, did thereupon dispatch to the emperor
our privy-counsellor, Peter Tolstoy, and the captain of our guard,
aforesaid, with a most pressing letter, representing how unjust it would
be to detain our son, contrary to all laws, divine and human, according
to which private parents, and with much more reason those who are
besides invested with a sovereign authority as we are, have an unlimited
power over their children, independently of any other judge; and we set
forth on one side, the just and affectionate manner with which we had
always used our son, and, on the other, his disobedience; representing,
in the conclusion, the ill consequences and animosities which the
refusal of delivering up our son to us might occasion, because we would
not leave this affair in that condition. We, at the same time, ordered
those we sent with that letter, to make verbal remonstrances even in
more pressing terms, and to declare that we should be obliged to
revenge, by all possible methods, such detaining our son. We wrote
likewise a letter to him with our own hand, to represent to him the
horror and impiety of his conduct, and the enormity of the crime he had
committed against us his father, and how God threatened in his laws to
punish disobedient children with eternal death: we threatened him, as a
father, with our curses, and, as his lord, to declare him a traitor to
his country, unless he returned, and obeyed our commands; and gave him
assurance, that if he did as we desired, and returned, we would pardon
his crime. Our envoys, after many solicitations, and the above
representation, made by us in writing, at last obtained leave of the
emperor to go and speak to our son, in order to dispose him to return
home. The imperial minister gave them at the same time to understand,
that our son had informed the emperor that we persecuted him, and that
his life was not safe with us, whereby he moved the emperor's
compassion, and induced him to take him into his protection; but that
the emperor, taking now into his consideration our true and solid
representations, promised to use his utmost endeavour to dispose him to
return to us; and would, moreover, declare to him, that he could not in
justice and equity refuse to deliver him to his father, or have any
difference with us on that account. Our envoys, upon their arrival at
Naples, having desired to deliver to him our letter, written with our
hand, sent us word, that he did refuse to admit them; but that the
emperor's viceroy had found means, by inviting him to his house, to
present them to him afterwards, much against his will. He did then,
indeed, receive our letter, containing our paternal exhortation, and
threatening our curse, but without shewing the least inclination to
return; alleging still a great many falsities and calumnies against us,
as if, by reason of several dangers he had to apprehend from us, he
could not, nor would not return; and boasting, that the emperor had not
only promised to defend and protect him against us, but even to set him
upon the throne of Russia against our will, by force of arms. Our envoys
perceiving this evil disposition, tried all imaginable ways to prevail
with him to return, they intreated him, they expatiated by turns upon
the graciousness of our assurances towards him, and upon our threats in
case of disobedience, and that we would even bring him away by force of
arms; they declared to him that the emperor would not enter into a war
with us on his account, and many other such-like representations did
they make to him. But he paid no regard to all this, nor shewed any
inclination to return to us, until the imperial viceroy, convinced at
last of his obstinacy, told him in the emperor's name, that he ought to
return; for that his imperial majesty could not by any law keep him from
us, nor, during the present war with Turkey, and also in Italy with
Spain, embroil himself with us upon his account. When he saw how the
case stood, fearing he should be delivered up to us, whether he would or
not, he at length resolved to return home; and declared his mind to our
envoys, and to the imperial viceroy: he likewise wrote the same thing to
us, acknowledging himself to be a criminal, and blameworthy. Now
although our son, by so long a course of criminal disobedience against
us, his father and lord, for many years, and particularly for the
dishonour he hath cast upon us in the face of the world, by withdrawing
himself, and raising calumnies against us, as if we were an unnatural
father, and for opposing his sovereign, hath deserved to be punished
with death; yet our paternal affection inclines us to have mercy upon
him, and we therefore pardon his crimes, and exempt him from all
punishment for the same. But considering his unworthiness, we cannot in
conscience, leave him after us the succession to the throne of Russia;
foreseeing that, by his vicious courses, he would entirely destroy the
glory of our nation and the safety of our dominions, which, through
God's assistance, we have acquired and established by incessant
application; for it is notorious and known to every one, how much it
hath cost us, and with what efforts we have not only recovered the
provinces which the enemy had usurped from our empire, but also
conquered several considerable towns and countries, and with what care
we have caused our people to be instructed in all sorts of civil and
military sciences, to the glory and advantage of the nation and empire.
Now, as we should pity our states and faithful subjects, if, by such a
successor, we should throw them back into a much worse condition than
ever they were yet; so, by the paternal authority, in virtue of which,
by the laws of our empire, any of our subjects may disinherit a son, and
give his succession to such other of his sons, as he pleases; and, in
quality of sovereign prince, in consideration of the safety of our
dominions, we do deprive our said son Alexis, for his crimes and
unworthiness, of the succession after us to the throne of Russia, even
though there should not remain one single person of our family after us.
And we do constitute and declare successor to the said throne after us,
our second son Peter, though yet very young, having no successor that is
older. We lay upon our said son Alexis our paternal curse, if ever at
any time he pretends to, or reclaims, the said succession; and we desire
our faithful subjects, whether ecclesiastics or seculars, of all ranks
and conditions, and the whole Russian nation, in conformity to this
constitution and our will, to acknowledge and consider our said son
Peter, appointed by our constitution, to confirm the whole by oath,
before the holy altar, upon the holy gospel, kissing the cross; and all
those who shall ever, at any time, oppose this our will, and who, from
this day forward, shall dare to consider our son Alexis, as successor,
or to assist him for that purpose, declare them traitors to us and their
country. And we have ordered that these presents shall be every where
published and promulgated, to the end that no person may pretend
ignorance.--Given at Moscow, the third of February, 1718. Signed with
our hand, and sealed with our seal.

                                                                'PETER.'

[103] This was the son of the empress Catherine, who died April 15,
1719.

[104] At the same time confirming it by an oath, the form of which was
as follows: 'I swear before Almighty God, and upon his holy gospel, that
whereas our most gracious sovereign, the czar Peter Alexiowitz, has
caused circular letters to be published through his empire, to notify
that he has thought fit to exclude his son, prince Alexis Petrowitz,
from the throne of Russia, and to appoint for his successor to the crown
his second son, the prince royal Peter Petrowitz; I do acknowledge this
order and regulation made by his majesty in favour of the said prince
Peter Petrowitz, to be just and lawful, and entirely conform and submit
myself to the same; promising always to acknowledge the said prince
royal Peter Petrowitz for his lawful successor, and to stand by him on
all occasions, even to the loss of my life, against all such as shall
presume to oppose the said succession; and that I never will, on any
pretence whatsoever assist the prince Alexis Petrowitz, nor in any
manner whatsoever contribute to procure him the succession. And this I
solemnly promise by my oath on the holy gospel, kissing the holy cross
thereupon.'

[105] His declaration to the clergy concluded in this manner:--'Though
this affair does not fall within the verge of the spiritual, but of the
civil jurisdiction, and we have this day referred it to the imperial
decision of the secular court, but remembering that passage in the word
of God, which requires us on such occasions to consult the priests and
elders of the church, in order to know the will of Heaven, and being
desirous of receiving all possible instructions in a matter of such
importance, we desire of you, the archbishops, and the whole
ecclesiastical state, as teachers of the word of God, not to pronounce
judgment in this case, but to examine and give us your opinion
concerning it, according to the sacred oracles, from whom we may be best
informed what punishment my son deserves, and that you will give it us
in writing under your hands, that being properly instructed herein, we
may lay no burthen on our conscience. We therefore repose our confidence
in you, that, as guardians of the divine laws, as faithful pastors of
the Christian flock, and as well affected towards your country, you will
act suitable to your dignity, conjuring you by that dignity, and the
holiness of your function, to proceed without fear or dissimulation.

[106] Besides the particular passages in holy writ cited on this
occasion, which were, Levit. xx. 1, 9. Deut. xxxi. Matt. xx. 1. Mark
vii. 9. Rom. i. 28. Ephes vi. 1. those from the constitutions of the
empire were as follows: 'If any person, by any ill design, forms any
attempt against the health of the czar, or does any thing to his
prejudice, and is found inclined to execute his pernicious designs, let
him be put to death, after he is convicted thereof.' Stat. 1. 'In like
manner, if any one, during the reign of his czarian majesty, through a
desire to reign in the empire of Russia, and put the czar to death,
shall begin to raise troops with this pernicious view; or if any one
shall form an alliance with the enemies of his czarian majesty, or hold
a correspondence with them, or assist them to arrive at the government,
or raise any other disorder; if any one declare it, and the truth be
found out upon such declaration, let the traitor suffer death upon
conviction of the treason.' Stat. 2. From the military laws the
following citations were made; chap. 3. art. 19. 'If any subject raises
men, and takes up arms against the czarian majesty; or if any person
forms a design of taking his majesty prisoner, or killing him; or if he
offers any violence to him; he and all his abettors and adherents shall
be quartered, as guilty of treason, and their goods confiscated.' To
which article the following explanation was added: 'They also shall
suffer the same punishment, who, though they have not been able to
execute their crime, shall be convicted of inclination and desire to
commit it; and likewise, those who shall not have discovered it when it
came to their knowledge,' chap. 26. art. 37. 'He who forms a design of
committing any treason, or any other matter of the like nature, shall be
punished with the same capital punishments as if he had actually
executed his design.'

[107] M. de Voltaire is mistaken in this point; for, by our laws, no
peer of the realm can absent himself from the service of the parliament
during its session, without the liberty of the king or the house.

[108] This is another mistake; for it is death by our law to compass or
imagine the death of the sovereign.

[109] Or Nions, the capital of Montauban, in Dauphine, in France,
situate on the river Aigues, over which is a bridge, said to be a Roman
work.

[110] At twenty-four to the pound sterling.

[111] About three thousand pounds sterling.

[112] The czar celebrated this victory by a naval triumph at Petersburg,
caused a gold medal to be struck to perpetuate the glory of the action,
presented prince Galitzin with a sword set with diamonds, and
distributed a large sum of money among the officers and sailors who had
given such signal proofs of their valour.

[113] A little town of the Bothnick gulf in North Finland.

[114] Notwithstanding the great rejoicings made on this occasion, Peter
was noways inattentive to the affairs of state; but held frequent
councils thereon: and being desirous, as his son Peter Petrowitz was
dead, to settle the succession on a prince who would follow his maxims,
and prosecute the great designs which he had begun for civilizing his
people, he ordered public notice to be given, on the 23d of February, to
all his subjects inhabiting the city of Moscow, to repair the next day
to Castle-church; which they having done, printed papers were delivered
to them all, signifying, 'That it was his imperial majesty's pleasure,
that every man should swear, and give under his hand, that he would not
only approve the choice his majesty would make of a successor, but
acknowledge the person he should appoint as emperor and sovereign.' An
order was likewise published a few days after at Petersburg, requiring
the magistrates and all persons to subscribe the same declaration; and
all the grandees of the empire were commanded, on pain of death and
confiscation, to repair to Moscow by the latter end of March for that
purpose, except those inhabiting Astracan and Siberia, who, living at
too great a distance, were excused from giving their personal
attendance, and permitted to subscribe before their respective
governors. This oath was readily taken by all ranks and degrees of the
people, who were well assured that their emperor would make choice of
one who was every way worthy of the succession, and capable of
supporting the dignity intended for him: but they were still in the dark
as to the identical person, though it was generally believed to be
prince Nariskin, who was nearly related to the emperor, and allowed to
have all the qualities requisite for his successor: but a little time
shewed them, that this conjecture was groundless.

[115] These he published and distributed along the borders of the
Caspian Sea, therein declaring--That he came not upon the frontiers of
Persia, with an intention of reducing any of the provinces of that
kingdom to his obedience, but only to maintain the lawful possessor of
them on his throne, and to defend him powerfully, together with his
faithful subjects, against the tyranny of Mir Mahmoud, and to obtain
satisfaction from him and his Tartars, for the robberies and mischiefs
which they had committed in the Russian empire.

[116] Memoirs of Bassewitz.

[117] MS. memoirs of count de Bassewitz.

[118] Catherine paid the last duties to her husband's ashes, with a pomp
becoming the greatest monarch that Russia, or perhaps any other country,
had ever known; and though there is no court of Europe where splendour
and magnificence is carried to a greater height on these occasions than
in that of Russia, yet it may with great truth be said, that she even
surpassed herself in the funeral honours paid to her great Peter. She
purchased the most precious kinds of marble, and employed some of the
ablest sculptors of Italy to erect a mausoleum to this hero, which
might, if possible, transmit the remembrance of his great actions to the
most distant ages. Not satisfied with this, she caused a medal to be
struck, worthy of the ancients. On one side was represented the bust of
the late emperor, with these words--'_Peter the Great, Emperor and
Sovereign of all Russia, born May 30, 1672_. On the reverse was the
empress sitting, with the crown on her head, the globe and sceptre by
her side on a table, and before her were a sphere, sea charts, plans,
mathematical instruments, arms, and a caduceus. At distances, in three
different places, were represented an edifice on the sea coast, with a
platform before it, a ship and galley at sea, and the late emperor in
the clouds, supported by eternity, looking on the empress, and shewing
her with his right hand all the treasures he had left her, with these
words, 'Behold what I have left you.' In the exergue, 'Deceased 28
January, 1725.' Several of these medals she ordered to be struck in
gold, to the weight of fifty ducats and distributed among the foreign
ministers, and all the grandees of the empire, as a testimony of her
respect and gratitude to the memory of her late husband, to whose
generosity she took a pleasure in owning herself indebted for her
present elevated station.

Mottley gives us the following, as the czar's epitaph:

                              Here lieth,
                 All that could die of a man immortal,
                           PETER ALEXIOWITZ:
                    It is almost superfluous to add,
                       _Great Emperor of Russia!_
                                A title,
                 Which, instead of adding to his glory,
                   Became glorious by his wearing it.
                         Let antiquity be dumb,
                 Nor boast her Alexander, or her Cæsar.
                          How easy was victory
                To leaders who were followed by heroes!
                And whose soldiers felt a noble disdain
          At being thought less vigilant than their generals!
                                But he,
                   Who in this place first knew rest,
                   Found subjects base and inactive,
                   Unwarlike, unlearned, untractable;
           Neither covetous of fame, nor fearless of danger;
                    Creatures with the names of men,
            But with qualities rather brutal than rational!
                            Yet, even these
               He polished from their native ruggedness;
                   And, breaking out like a new sun,
                  To illuminate the minds of a people,
             Dispelled their night of hereditary darkness;
               And, by force of his invincible influence,
                         Taught them to conquer
                    Even the conquerors of Germany.
            Other princes have commanded victorious armies;
                      This commander created them.
             Blush, O Art! at a hero who owed thee nothing
              Exult, O Nature! for thine was this prodigy.

[119] The distinguished regard which this princess shews for the arts
and sciences, and her endeavours to attract the great geniuses of all
nations to reside in her dominions, by every possible encouragement,
affords the strongest presumptions, that in her reign we shall see a
second age of Louis XIV. and of this we have had a recent proof, in the
obliging letter which this august princess wrote with her own hand to M.
d'Alembert, and the choice she has since made of M. Duplex, a member of
the royal academy of sciences at Paris, when the beforementioned
gentleman thought fit to decline the gracious offers she made him. In
which choice she has shewn that it is not birth nor rank, but true merit
and virtue, which she considers as the essential qualifications in a
person to whom she would confide the most sacred of all trusts, that of
the education of the grand duke, her son. What then may not be expected
from the administration of a sovereign so superior to vulgar prejudice?
And especially when assisted by a Woronzoff and a Galitzin, both the
professed friends and patrons of literature and the fine arts, which
they themselves have not disdained to cultivate, when business and the
weighty affairs of state have allowed them a few moments leisure.

[120] The following anecdote, communicated by a nobleman of the
strictest probity, who was himself an eye-witness of the fact, will give
us a clear insight into the character and disposition of Peter I. In one
of the many plots which was formed against the life and government of
this monarch, there was among the number of those seized a soldier,
belonging to his own regiment of guards. Peter being told by his
officers that this man had always behaved extremely well, had a
curiosity to see him, and learn from his own mouth what might have been
his inducement to be concerned in a plot against him; and to this
purpose he dressed himself in a plain garb, and so as not to be known by
the man again, and went to the prison where he was confined, when, after
some conversation, 'I should be glad to know, friend,' said Peter, 'what
were your reasons for being concerned in an attempt against the emperor
your master, as I am certain that he never did you any injury, but on
the contrary, has a regard for you, as being a brave soldier, and one
who have always done your duty in the field; and therefore, if you were
to shew the least remorse for what you have done, I am persuaded that
the emperor would forgive you: but before I interest myself in your
behalf, you must tell me what motives you had to join the mutineers; and
repeat to you again, that the emperor is naturally so good and
compassionate, that I am certain he will give you your pardon.'

'I know little or nothing of the emperor,' replied the soldier, 'for I
never saw him but at a distance; but he caused my father's head to be
cut off some time ago, for being concerned in a former rebellion, and it
is the duty of a son to revenge the death of his father, by that of the
person who took away his life. If then the emperor is really so good and
merciful as you have represented him, counsel him, for his own safety
not to pardon me; for were he to restore me my liberty, the first use I
should make of it would be, to engage in some new attempt against his
life, nor should I ever rest till I had accomplished my design;
therefore the securest method he can take, will be to order my head to
be struck off immediately, without which his own life is not in safety.'
The czar in vain used all the arguments he could think of, to set before
this desperado the folly and injustice of such sentiments; he still
persisted in what he had declared, and Peter departed, greatly chagrined
at the bad success of his visit, and gave orders for the execution of
this man and the rest of his accomplices.




    Transcriber's notes:

    The following is a list of changes made to the original.
    The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.

    of procelain, the court magazines, the foundery,
    of porcelain, the court magazines, the foundery,

    and brought martins and black foxes,
    and brought martens and black foxes,

    Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown     300
    Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown    3000

    dicipline by land: nay, the most common
    discipline by land: nay, the most common

    and encouragement on the part of a govornment;
    and encouragement on the part of a government;

    situated on the Driester, and subject to the Turks,
    situated on the Dniester, and subject to the Turks,

    in a word, he was worthy of being the father of
    In a word, he was worthy of being the father of

    to the empire, the reigns of which she intended
    to the empire, the reins of which she intended

    He led a retired life, and died in 1646.
    He led a retired life, and died in 1696.

    retook from Lewis XIV. in 1694. After this,
    retook from Lewis XIV. in 1674. After this,

    up the renegado, Jacob, to the conquerors.
    up the renegade, Jacob, to the conquerors.

    cruizing on the coast of Crim Tartary. The Ottoman
    cruising on the coast of Crim Tartary. The Ottoman

    Marshal Sheremeto, the general Gordons and Schein,
    Marshal Sheremeto, the generals Gordon and Schein,

    Accordingly, in the month of March 1677, he sent
    Accordingly, in the month of March 1697, he sent

    by king Willian with a spectacle worthy such a
    by king William with a spectacle worthy such a

    is signed, and they cad no longer go from their
    is signed, and they can no longer go from their

    This is speaking like the high-priest of depotism.
    This is speaking like the high-priest of despotism.

    he invited all the boyards, and principa lladies
    he invited all the boyards, and principal ladies

    gained a pitched battle, againsr an enemy who
    gained a pitched battle, against an enemy who

    ignorant of the place where these two princes where,
    ignorant of the place where these two princes were,

    gave up those Zoporavians who had engaged in
    gave up those Zaporavians who had engaged in

    prisoners. Is has been the custom of the
    prisoners. It has been the custom of the

    Demetrius Cantemir, was at this time Waiwod of Moldavia.
    Demetrius Cantemir was at this time Waiwod of Moldavia.

    perish with famine. other memoirs pretend, on
    perish with famine. Other memoirs pretend, on

    and six thousand six hundred and nine-two
    and six thousand six hundred and ninety-two

    almost every century: Gustavus Adolphus get possession
    almost every century: Gustavus Adolphus got possession

    took great delight in the ancient Green historians,
    took great delight in the ancient Greek historians,

    he gave orders that the man, whom he had exmained
    he gave orders that the man, whom he had examined

    transmitted to the latest postesity.
    transmitted to the latest posterity.

    And here we cannnot forbear recalling to the
    And here we cannot forbear recalling to the

    Caspian Sea, in the neigbourhood of Daghestan,
    Caspian Sea, in the neighbourhood of Daghestan,

    head of James II. in London, as he had before
    head of James III. in London, as he had before

    not been attested by a a public minister, who was
    not been attested by a public minister, who was

    Gods's assistance, we owe to our labour, and those of our
    God's assistance, we owe to our labour, and those of our

    of the country, and his ill-behaviour to his wife.'
    of the country, and his ill-behaviour to his wife.

    us word, that he did rufuse to admit them; but that the
    us word, that he did refuse to admit them; but that the

    materials for reparing this great structure, which
    materials for repairing this great structure, which

    who, was to have Stanislaus again for her king.
    who was to have Stanislaus again for her king.

    of renouncing arbitary government. Charles
    of renouncing arbitrary government. Charles

    in this situation during the whole of the pear 1719.
    in this situation during the whole of the year 1719.

    them on his throne, and to defend him powerfully, toge-
    them on his throne, and to defend him powerfully, together