CATHERINE I (1725-1727 A.D.)
[Sidenote: [1725-1727 A.D.]]
At the death of Peter the Great two powerful parties were arrayed against
each other, one supporting his youthful grandson Alexievitch, and the
other advancing the claims of Catherine, the Livonian. The Galitzins,
the Dolgoruki, Repnins, and all Old Russia wished to crown Peter’s son,
Alexis; but those who owed their elevation to Peter I, or had been
involved in the suit against his son, as well as the members of the
tribunal that had condemned the czarevitch, felt that their only hope of
safety lay in raising Catherine to the throne. This party, counting among
its numbers the most capable and enlightened men, still held the highest
authority in the administration and in the army, and its adversaries felt
that a compromise was the most that they could expect. Dmitri Galitzin
proposed to proclaim Peter II, but only under the guardianship of the
widowed empress.
Tolstoi combated this proposition by showing that it was the surest
method of arming parties against each other, of furnishing hostile
factions a pretext for inciting the people to rebellion against the
regent. He demonstrated that in the absence of the testamentary
disposition she had the best right to succeed Peter I; furthermore, she
had been solemnly crowned, had received the oath of allegiance from her
subjects, had been initiated into all the state secrets, and had learned
from her husband the art of reigning. The officers and regiments of the
guards declared energetically in favour of the heroine of Pruth, and
it was finally decided that she should reign alone, with an authority
as absolute as that of her dead husband. This was a greater novelty in
Russia than the regency of Sophia; Catherine was not only a woman, but
a foreigner, a captive, and a second wife, scarcely to be considered as
a wife at all. Many were the protests against a decision which excluded
from the throne the grandson of Peter the Great, and certain of the
_raskolniks_ submitted to the torture rather than swear allegiance to a
woman.
Menshikov, one of Catherine’s earlier lovers, now became all-powerful. He
stopped the suit for mal-administration that the late czar had commenced
against him, and obtained for himself Baturin, the former capital of
Mazeppa, which was equivalent to the principality of Ukraine. His
despotic and evil character rendered him odious to his companions and
discord everywhere broke out among the “eaglets” of Peter the Great.
Iagushinski publicly lamented on the tomb of the czar, and Tolstoi was
later exiled to Siberia. Catherine, however, restrained the ambition of
her favourite and refused to sacrifice her other councillors to him.
Catherine’s rule, which was a continuation of that of Peter the Great,
gave the lie to the pessimistic predictions that had announced the
abandonment of St. Petersburg and the fleet, and the return to Moscow.
The greater part of the plans for reform entertained by the czar were
put in execution. The Academy of Sciences was inaugurated in 1726, the
publication of the _Gazette_ was carefully supervised, the order of
Alexander Nevski, originated by Peter, was founded, the Danish captain
Béhring was placed at the head of the Kamchatka scientific expedition,
Chasirov, recalled from exile, was commanded to write the history of
Peter the Great, and Anna Petrovna was solemnly married to the duke of
Holstein, to whom she had been affianced by her father. On the other hand
the senate and the holy synod lost their title of Directors, and the
affairs of state were given into the hands of the secret high council
which sat under the presidency of the empress and was composed of
Menshikov, the admiral Apraxin, the chancellor Golovkin, Tolstoi, Dmitri
Galitzin, and the vice-chancellor Ostermann.
On her death-bed Catherine designated as her successor Peter Alexievitch,
the grandson of her husband, and in default of Peter her two daughters
Anna of Holstein and Elizabeth. Pending the majority of the youthful
emperor the regency was to be conducted by a council composed of Anna and
Elizabeth, the duke of Holstein, Menshikov, Apraxin, Golovkin, Ostermann,
and others; but Menshikov after the first sitting took the duties of
regent upon himself.
PETER II (1727-1730 A.D.)
The empress died on the 17th of May, 1727, and on the following day the
nobility and clergy assembled in the palace to be present at the reading
of the will by which Peter was made emperor of all the Russias. Menshikov
had taken measures to retain his high position and even to increase
his power under the new reign. With the design of removing all those
who might be detrimental to him he banished Apraxin from court, sent
Iagushinski to Ukraine and despatched Makarov on a mission to the mines
of Siberia. Menshikov had further obtained Catherine’s consent to the
betrothal of his daughter to the young prince. He gave his own palace as
a residence for the emperor and surrounded him with men on whose devotion
he could count. He assumed the title of generalissimo and signed his
letters to his sovereign “your father.” He caused the members of his own
family to be inscribed in the almanac beside those of the imperial house,
and had his daughters mentioned in the public prayers; he also planned
to obtain the hand of Peter’s sister, Natalia Alexievna, for his son in
addition to marrying his daughter to the emperor.
Peter II soon began to chafe under the rule of the generalissimo.
Menshikov had appointed Ostermann to be his tutor, but the young prince
hated study and preferred to spend his days hunting with his favourite,
Ivan Dolgoruki. The adroit Ostermann excused himself to the prince for
the disagreeable nature of his pedagogic duties, and contrived to cast
all the blame on Menshikov. The emperor one day sent a present of 9,000
ducats to his sister Natalia, and Menshikov insolently confiscated them
with the remark that the “emperor was too young to know the proper use of
money.” Peter II rebelled at this and it was with difficulty that the
prince appeased him. The generalissimo had another enemy in the person
of Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great and aunt of Peter II. She was
seventeen years old at the time, gay, careless, and lively, with a bright
complexion and blue eyes; her laughter drove the insupportable tutor from
his office.
[Sidenote: [1728 A.D.]]
An illness which overtook Menshikov and kept him absent for a time from
court prepared his downfall; Peter II accustomed himself to the idea of
getting rid of him. When the prince returned and began again to oppose
the young ruler’s wishes the latter left Menshikov’s house, caused
all the crown furniture to be removed from it to the imperial palace,
treated his affianced wife with marked coldness, and finally gave orders
to the guards that they were to obey no commands save those given by
their colonels. This was the prelude to an overwhelming disgrace; in
September, 1727, Menshikov was arrested, stripped of all his dignities
and decorations, and banished to his own lands.
The Dolgorukis profited by the revolution they had caused. They fell,
however, into Menshikov’s error and oppressed the prince with the same
officious care. Like Menshikov they banished all who gave them offence,
even Ostermann for whom Peter began to feel affection, and the old
czarina, Eudoxia Lapukhin, who had been liberated from the prison in
Ladoga. Advancing as a pretext certain placards in which the services of
Menshikov were extolled, they exiled the latter to Berezov, in Siberia,
where he died in 1729. Taking no lesson by his example they imposed on
the prince a new bride, Catherine Dolgoruki, sister of his favourite,
Ivan. Their administration bore all the character of a reaction against
the reforms instituted by Peter the Great.
In 1728, when the young emperor went to Moscow for his coronation, he
was warmly received by the people. Ostermann, however, and all the other
faithful servants of the “giant czar” were chagrined at the return of
the court to Moscow and its indifference to European affairs in general.
In order to gain more complete possession of their master the Dolgoruki
encouraged his taste for dissipation and took him away on hunting
expeditions that lasted weeks at a time. Peter would certainly have
grown as weary of them as he had of Menshikov: and to the complaints
of his aunt Elizabeth that she was left without money he had already
replied: “It is not my fault: they do not execute my orders; but I shall
find means to break my chains.” The crisis came about in a different
manner from what had been expected; the young emperor caught cold while
attending the ceremony of the benediction of the waters, and died of
smallpox at the age of fourteen years and four months. The two reigns
of Catherine and Peter II, which lasted in all about five years, were
peaceful.
In 1726 Russia had concluded an alliance with the court of Vienna and in
1727 it became involved in the war of the Quadruple Alliance. Despite the
efforts of Campredon and Kurakin the failure of the project of marriage
between Louis XV and Elizabeth had brought about coolness between France
and Russia. The most remarkable episode of the foreign relations was
the attempt of Maurice of Saxony, illegitimate son of King Augustus, to
obtain possession of the duchy of Courland. The offer of his hand had
been accepted by the widowed Anna Ivanovna, and he had been elected at
Mittau by the deputies of the nobility. Disregarding the protestations
of Prussia, Russia, and the Polish diet, he levied a body of troops with
the money raised by the sale of the jewels belonging to an abbess of
Quedlinburg, a certain French actress, his mother Aurora of Königsmark,
and Adrienne Lecouvreur, and set about putting his duchy in a state of
defence. His father disavowed him and Cardinal Fleury did not venture to
support him even indirectly. Menshikov, restored to greater liberty since
the death of Catherine I, himself laid claims to the duchy. He despatched
Lacy at the head of eight thousand men to drive out the Saxon adventurer.
The future victor of Fontenoy could get together no more than 247, and
was obliged to swim across an arm of the sea in his retreat. His election
was annulled, his father publicly reviled him as a _galopin_, or rascal,
and Courland came once more under Russian influence.
[Sidenote: [1730 A.D.]]
During the reign of Peter II a treaty was signed with Prussia by virtue
of which the two powers pledged themselves to sustain, on the death of
Augustus II, the candidate they might choose for Poland. The emperor
Charles VI and the “sergeant king” sounded Russia as to the eventual
dismemberment of the Polish Republic. This was not the first time that
the question of partition was brought forward. In Asia, Iagushinski
concluded on the Bura a treaty of commerce with the Celestial Empire
in the name of Peter II, by the terms of which Russian caravans could
journey to Pekin every three years and could carry on their trade
toll-free. Russia was also to have the privilege of keeping four priests
and six young men in Pekin to learn Chinese. Kiakhta on the Russian
territory and Maimatchin on the Chinese were to be the authorised
depots.[f]
[Illustration: PRINCE ALEXANDER MENSHIKOV]
The death of Peter II was universally regretted in Russia. During his
reign, the empire enjoyed tranquillity at home and peace abroad; and
he discovered such excellent qualities for government that the people
looked forward to enjoying under his rule a period of freedom and
prosperity such as they had never before experienced. There is no doubt,
however, that if he had survived his own good intentions would have been
perverted by those advisers who had obtained so strong a hold upon his
mind. His predilection for Moscow had already produced serious injury to
the maritime affairs of St. Petersburg: the fleet and the army suffered
severely by his continued absence from the capital; and had he lived to
complete the change by which he meditated Russia must have ultimately
lost, by the neglect of her great station on the Neva, the national
consequence she had maintained amongst the states of Europe during the
two previous reigns. It was evident, also, that he would gradually have
discouraged the residence of foreigners in his dominions; and that the
old families were acquiring such power at court that they would finally
have succeeded in restoring those national usages which had been set
aside by Peter the Great. If the people, therefore, were deprived on the
one hand of the temporary advantages of a tranquil reign, Russia on the
other was preserved from the risk of permanent evils.
Disappointed in their expectations of an alliance with the emperor,
the Dalgoruki did not wholly relinquish their hopes of securing some
advantage by their position. The young Dalgoruki, impatient of delay,
forged a testament in the name of Peter II, in which Catherine Dalgoruki
was named as the successor to the throne. With this instrument in one
hand and a drawn sword in the other he rushed into the hall, where the
senators were assembled in deliberation, and cried aloud, “Long live the
empress Dalgoruki!” But no voice seconding him in this wild and shallow
trick, he sheathed his sword, and suppressed the fraudulent testament.
The question of the succession was now to be considered; and the only
authentic document by which the proceedings of the council could be
regulated was the will of Catherine I, which devised the succession
to the princess Anna and her posterity, or, in failure, the princess
Elizabeth. But Anna had died two years before, and her husband the duke
of Holstein had retired into Germany. It was true that there was a young
prince, the issue of this marriage; but the council were so averse to
the introduction of foreigners into the state that they decided at once
against any claim that might be set up in that quarter.
The princess Elizabeth, second in the order of nomination, exhibited
no desire to avail herself of the testament of her mother, although
she was strongly urged to do so by Lestocq, her physician, preferring
to enjoy the ease of a life unburdened by the cares of the state. In
these circumstances the council, the senate, and the great officers of
state assembled to consult upon the election of a successor to Peter II.
Although the male line of the Romanovs was extinct in that sovereign,
yet the female line was preserved in the three daughters of Ivan, the
stepbrother of Peter the Great, and for some time a partner with him in
the government. The eldest was separated from her husband, the duke of
Mecklenburg; the second, Anna, duchess of Courland, was a widow living at
Mittau; and the third was still unmarried, residing at St. Petersburg.
The objection that was entertained against foreign alliances determined
the senate to reject the claims of the first, and the choice consequently
fell upon Anna Ivanovna.
ANNA IVANOVNA (1730-1740 A.D.)
From the time of the death of Catherine I the prejudice against
foreigners had insensibly acquired weight amongst those influential
persons who surrounded the throne. The Dolgoruki were the most active
agents of this sentiment, through which they hoped at last to reap the
largest share of profit themselves. Taking advantage of the jealousy
in which the old aristocracy held their privileges, and apprehensive
that the new sovereign might act upon the system of her immediate
predecessors, they struck upon an expedient by which they hoped to
deprive her of the power of exercising her own judgment, and to place
her under the control of that irresponsible council which had been
instituted by Catherine I. “The welfare of the nation,” said Galitzin,
in an address to the assembly, “demands that the supreme authority and
the unlimited power of the sovereign, by which Russia has suffered so
much and which has been sustained chiefly by the influx of foreigners,
should be circumscribed, and that the crown should be conferred upon the
new sovereign under certain conditions.” This proposal was received with
universal approbation, and the following conditions were unanimously
agreed to:
That the empress should govern solely by the resolves of the high privy
council; that she was not, of her own motion, either to wage war or
make peace; that she could not, of herself, impose any new tax upon the
people; that she could not dispose of any important office, nor inflict
capital punishment on any nobleman, nor confiscate his estate, unless
he had been previously convicted of the crime laid to his charge; that
she should not alienate any lands belonging to the crown; and that she
could not marry, or nominate an heir, without obtaining, in the first
instance, the consent of the council. A strange article was added to
these conditions--that her chamberlain, von Biren, should not accompany
the empress into Russia.
These conditions, which were apparently intended to curb the tyranny of
the throne, aimed at nothing more than the abolition of one description
of despotism, for the purpose of substituting a worse in its stead.
If it abrogated the supreme and unlimited power of the sovereign, it
transferred that power to the secret council, which was thus elevated
above the sovereignty and the senate and invested with a complete control
over the administration of the public affairs. The proposed change was
from an unlimited monarchy to an irresponsible oligarchy.
The drift of this capitulation was speedily detected by those whose
interests it affected--the aristocracy. They saw that it concentrated
the power of the state in the hands of seven persons; that the Dolgoruki
had already possessed themselves of the voice of the council; and that
the issue would be the sacrifice of the empire to a family contract. The
capitulation, therefore, was scarcely passed when a powerful opposition
was raised up against it; and the people, accustomed to the despotism
of an unlimited sovereignty, from which, amidst all its severities,
they had derived many valuable safeguards and benefits, declared that
they preferred rendering obedience to one master instead of seven. This
feeling rapidly spread amongst the guards, who had good reasons for
objecting to a clause which would throw the patronage of the army into
the hands of a few persons, who, instead of promoting the meritorious,
would, as a matter of course, provide for their own friends and relatives.
[Illustration: ANNA IVANOVNA
(1693-1740)]
Nor was the princess Anna insensible to the wrong which she suffered from
this novel procedure; and, when the deputation from the council waited
upon her to inform her of her election, and the conditions which were
annexed to it, she would have refused to subscribe to the capitulation,
had she not been already prepared by the advice of General Iagushinski
as to the course she ought to pursue. That officer had previously
recommended her to accept the conditions, but to revoke them immediately
after she should be acknowledged as empress, assuring her, at the same
time, that she would be powerfully supported in the proper quarter. She
accordingly agreed to the demands of the deputation, and was crowned in
the usual forms.
The empress Anna was no sooner established upon the throne, than her
friends gave her an opportunity of carrying the advice of General
Iagushinski into effect. A petition signed by several hundred noblemen
was presented to her, in which she was entreated to abrogate the
restrictions which the council had placed upon her authority, and to
assume the unlimited power that had hitherto been exercised by her
predecessors. Fortified by this requisition, the empress presented
herself before the council and the senate, and, reading the terms of the
capitulation, demanded whether such was the will of the nation. Being
answered in the negative by the majority of those who were present,
she exclaimed, “Then there is no further need of this paper,” and tore
the capitulation in pieces. This act was ratified and published in a
manifesto which declared that the empress ascended the throne not by
election but by hereditary right, and which exacted from the people
an oath of allegiance, not to the sovereign and the country, as had
formerly been the case, but to the empress alone, as unlimited sovereign,
including not only the rights of sovereignty already existing but those
that might be asserted hereafter.
Anna was now empress without conditions, and her chamberlain, von Biren,
was raised to that place in her councils which Menshikov filled during
the reign of Catherine I. The first exercise she made of her power was to
abolish the council of seven and to restore to the senate the privileges
it enjoyed under Peter the Great. She appointed, however, a cabinet
of three persons, with Ostermann at its head, whose duty it was to
superintend the affairs of the most pressing importance, leaving to the
senate the management of less momentous matters. When these arrangements
were completed, the urgent attention of the empress was directed to the
foreign relations of the empire, which, at this crisis, demanded serious
consideration.
The struggle for the throne in Poland had entailed jealousies which
threatened not only to involve the peace of Russia but to draw France and
Sweden into the quarrel. The cause of Augustus, the elector of Saxony,
which had originally been espoused by Peter I, was still maintained
by the Russian cabinet; and, although France made strenuous exertions
to reinstate Stanislaus, the father-in-law of Louis XV, yet, by the
determined interference of his northern ally, Augustus was proclaimed
king of Poland, and Stanislaus was compelled to fly. The mortification
which France endured under these circumstances excited in her a strong
feeling of hostility against Russia; but there existed still more cogent
reasons why she should make an attempt to restrain the advances of that
power.
It had long been a favourite point in the policy of France to secure
upon the throne of Poland a monarch who should be devoted to her will,
and although she had been hitherto defeated in that object, she did not
relinquish the hope of its ultimate accomplishment. She saw also rising
in the north a gigantic empire, which had already acquired extraordinary
power in Europe, and which threatened at last to overshadow and destroy
the influence which she had been accustomed to exercise in that part of
the globe. Urged by these considerations, and knowing how important it
was to Russia to be at peace with Sweden, she left no means untried to
engage the court at Stockholm on her side. Her diplomacy succeeded even
better than she expected and Russia was once more compelled to watch with
vigilance the movements of a dangerous neighbour, who was still suffering
under the disastrous effects of a war from which Russia had reaped all
the benefits and she the misfortunes.
But affairs pressed with still greater energy in a more remote quarter.
It was found by experience that the territories which Peter had acquired
in Persia by the treaty entered into between him, the sultan, and the
shah were exceedingly burdensome to the country. In his desire for
the enlargement of his dominions, Peter overlooked the necessity of
ascertaining whether the new provinces were likely to be productive of
advantages, either in the way of revenue or as adding strength to the
frontiers. In order to preserve the possession of those provinces, it
was necessary to maintain a considerable garrison in the interior, even
in time of peace; they were also frequently exposed to scenes of warfare
and devastation; and the climate was so injurious to the health of the
Russians that in the course of a few years no less than 130,000 men
perished there.
[Sidenote: [1735 A.D.]]
The great cost of these dependencies, and their uselessness in a
territorial point of view, determined Anna to relinquish them upon the
best terms she could procure from the shah. She accordingly proposed to
that prince the restoration of the conquered provinces, upon condition
that he would grant to the Russian merchants certain commercial
privileges in the trade with Persia. To these terms the shah acceded, and
in 1735 Russia made a formal surrender of her Persian possessions. This
negotiation was connected with another of still greater importance--a
defensive treaty between Persia and Russia, which was concluded at the
same time. The motives which induced Anna to enter into this alliance
require a brief recapitulation of preceding events.
The unfortunate situation in which Peter I was placed upon the banks
of the Pruth compelled him to submit to the terms dictated by the
Porte, by which he surrendered many important advantages which he had
previously obtained by conquest. The principal sacrifices he had made
upon that occasion were the evacuation of Azov and the destruction of the
fortifications at Taganrog which had the immediate effect of shutting him
out from the trade on the Euxine. The annoyances also to which the empire
was subjected by the frequent incursions of the Crimean and other Tatars
into the border lands, where they committed the most frightful excesses,
and the haughty refusal of the Porte to acknowledge the imperial title
which the people had conferred upon him, led Peter to meditate a new war
against the Turks. He made ample preparations for the fulfilment of this
design by fortifying the frontiers in the neighbourhood of Turkey; but
his death arrested the execution of the project, which was entirely laid
aside by Catherine I and Peter II.
Anna, however, relying upon the assistance of thirty thousand auxiliaries
from Germany, considered this a favourable opportunity for reviving a
stroke of policy which promised such signal advantages to the country,
particularly as the Turk was at this period employed in hostilities
against Persia. She did not long want an excuse for opening the war.
The Tatars had of late made several predatory inroads upon the Russian
territories, and laying waste the districts through which they passed
carried off men and cattle on their return. These Tatars being under the
protection of the Porte, the empress remonstrated upon the subject, and
demanded satisfaction; but the sultan, in his reply, excused himself from
interfering in the matter, upon the pretext that it was impossible to
keep those roving bands under proper restraint. This evasive reply was
precisely what Anna anticipated, and as the sultan declined to render
her any atonement, she undertook to obtain retribution for herself. A
force was immediately despatched into the country of the Tatars, which
they overran, spreading ruin in their path, and destroying the marauders
in great numbers. The expedition failed, however, in consequence of the
incautious advance of the troops too far into the interior, where, not
being prepared with a sufficient stock of provisions, they underwent
severe privations, and sustained a loss of ten thousand men.
But this discomfiture did not divert the empress from her grand design;
and in the year 1736 Count Munich, at the head of a sufficient force,
was sent into the Ukraine, with a free commission to retaliate upon the
Tatars. After a victorious course through that region, he passed into
the peninsula of the Crimea; the Tatars, unequal to contending with him
in the open field, flying before him until they reached their lines,
extending from the sea of Azov to the Euxine, behind the intrenchments of
which they considered themselves secure. The lines were established with
a view to protecting the Crimea from any attack on the land side; and,
having been built with incredible toil, and being strongly fortified with
cannon, the Tatars deemed them impregnable. They did not long, however,
withstand the vigorous assault of the Russians, who speedily scaled them,
and, driving the tumultuous hordes before them, soon possessed themselves
of the greater part of the Crimea. But the same inconveniences were felt
on this as on the former expedition. The Tatars on their flight laid the
country in ashes, and it was impossible to provide sustenance for the
troops without keeping up a constant communication with the Ukraine,
where provisions at least were to be had, but which was attended with
great difficulty. In this exigency, Count Munich was obliged to return to
the Ukraine, to take up his winter quarters.
_War with Turkey_
[Sidenote: [1737 A.D.]]
While Munich was thus engaged against the Tatars, a much more important
movement, in which the real object of the Russian government was directly
exhibited, was taking place elsewhere. General Lacy had laid siege to
Azov, and reduced it to submission on the 1st of July, in the same year.
This bold and decisive step forced the reluctant Divan to take into
consideration the means by which the progress of the Russians could be
most effectually stayed. The sultan was unwilling to commit himself in
a war with Russia, content with the possession of the advantages he
had gained by the Treaty of the Pruth; and even now that Russia had
regained one of the ceded forts, and was manifestly prepared to follow
up the victory, he preferred to attempt the negotiation of peace through
the mediation of Austria, for the sake of avoiding hostilities as long
as he could. Russia, however, would not agree to any accommodation;
and, instead of being moved from her purpose by the representations
of Austria, she demanded of that power the fulfilment of the treaty
subsisting between them, by which, in case of need, she was bound to
furnish thirty thousand auxiliaries. This demand placed the subject in
a new light before the German cabinet. The required assistance would
obviously have the effect of enabling Russia to extend her conquests
without producing any benefits whatever to Austria; whereas, if Austria
united herself with Russia in the war, she might derive some advantages
from an alliance against which it appeared highly improbable that the
Turks could make a successful stand. She decided, therefore, upon
throwing the whole weight of her power into the scale, greatly to the
consternation of the Turks, who had, in the first instance, solicited her
friendly interference. The sultan, however, felt that, doubtful as must
be the issue of a contest against such formidable enemies, it would be
wiser to risk it than, yielding to intimidation, to make such sacrifices
as would be inconsistent with the security and honour of the country.
He accordingly lost no time in preparing for the campaign. He recruited
the garrisons and forts, raised new levies, put his army into proper
condition, and equipped a fleet for the protection of the Euxine; on the
other hand, the combined forces rapidly prepared to act in concert.
The operations of the year 1737 were not followed by any important
results. The Russian army, strengthened by forty thousand recruits, was
separated into two divisions; one of which, under the command of Count
Munich, proceeded to Otchakov on the Euxine, while General Lacy, with
the other, entered the Crimea. The objects proposed to be attained by
these expeditions were not adequate to the expenditure that attended
them. Otchakov submitted, and was garrisoned by the conquerors; and the
Crimea was again desolated. This was all Russia gained by the sacrifice
of about fifty thousand of her veteran troops. The blame of these barren
and expensive victories was to be attributed to that very union of forces
which ought to have been productive of increased strength. The most
unfortunate jealousies existed, not only amongst the Austrian officers,
but between Count Munich and the Austrians. To so extravagant a length
was this dangerous feeling carried that, with the exception of the affair
at Otchakov, Munich remained inactive throughout the campaign, from an
obstinate determination not to act upon the same plan that was pursued by
the Austrians.
Nor was this the only evil that these feuds produced. The Turks, taking
advantage of the dissension, poured in with greater force upon the German
ranks, which they broke through on several occasions, gaining frequent
petty advantages, which, at all events, had the effect of rendering their
movements in a great measure abortive. Constant complaints were now
made alternately by the courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg, respecting
the conduct of the officers at both sides; and, although Munich was
especially accused of thwarting the efforts of the allies, he always had
the address to escape from reprehension, by throwing the censure on his
accusers.
These circumstances inspired the Turks with fresh courage. A congress
had been appointed to be held at Nemirov, in Poland, but they withdrew
their ambassador; signifying, however, that if Russia would evacuate
Azov and Otchakov, and the rest of her conquests, they might be induced
to entertain a treaty of peace. This insolent proposition was at
once rejected by Russia, and the war was resumed. In the campaign of
the following year, Munich appeared to be anxious to make amends for
his former inactivity; but, although he made some vigorous marches
and vindicated the character of the soldiery, he effected nothing of
substantial importance. A similar fortune attended General Lacy in the
Crimea, from which, after a disastrous progress through a desolated
country, and after a great mortality amongst his troops, occasioned
partly by fatigue and partly by the deficiency of provisions, he was
ultimately obliged to withdraw.
[Sidenote: [1739 A.D.]]
The opening of the year 1739 promised to make amends for these successive
failures. General Munich, whose ability in the field was admitted on all
hands, collected a numerous army at Kiev, and, crossing the Bug, met the
Turks in a pitched battle, near Stavutshan, in which he obtained a signal
victory. Pursuing his success with vigour, he advanced and, passing
the Pruth, he possessed himself of Jassi, the capital of Moldavia, the
whole of which territory he subjugated in an incredibly short space
of time. Retracing his march, after having achieved this important
conquest, he made preparations for a descent upon Bender. These brilliant
triumphs, accomplished with such rapidity that the couriers were kept
constantly occupied in the transmission of despatches to the court of St.
Petersburg, encouraged, for a brief season the flattering prospects of
complete restitution which the unpropitious commencement of the war had
almost annihilated.
But unfortunately the same evil spirit which had frustrated the former
campaigns broke out just at the moment when Turkey was so discomfited
that Russia, had she pushed her successes a little further, might have
dictated a settlement upon her own terms. Envy at the progress of the
Russian army was again exhibited in the ranks of the Austrians, who were
suffering under a contagious disease that helped in a still greater
degree to paralyse their activity. Unfortunately, too, the emperor
Charles VI was afflicted with a dangerous illness; and his daughter,
shrinking from the apprehensions of the future, was extremely desirous
by any means to bring about a peace with Turkey. This disposition on
the part of Austria was gladly seized upon by the sultan; and, before
there was time to reconcile the unhappy differences that existed amongst
the allies, a treaty of peace was drawn up and signed between Austria
and Turkey, on the 1st of September, 1739. By this inglorious treaty,
Austria escaped from all further responsibility in the war; but she
purchased the peace at so enormous a price that it is difficult to
comprehend the tortuous policy which led her to adopt so extraordinary
a measure. The war, in which she had embarked in the hope of securing
territorial advantages, had cost her a considerable expenditure in
troops and treasure; and she not only did not obtain an indemnity for
this outlay, nor acquire a single rood of ground by her participation in
the campaigns, but by the conditions of the treaty she was compelled to
relinquish Belgrade, her Hungarian rampart against the Turks, and all
those conquests which she had formerly obtained under the victorious flag
of Prince Eugene.
This peace produced great dissatisfaction at St. Petersburg; for,
although Austria reserved to herself the right of fulfilling her treaty
with Russia by succouring her in the field, it was not deemed prudent
to prosecute a war single handed, which had been commenced with such a
formidable display of power. The Turks, relieved from one antagonist,
were now the better enabled to resist the other; and the empress
conceived that the wisest course she could pursue was to negotiate her
differences with the sultan, to which proposal he was not unwilling to
accede. A peace was consequently entered into between the belligerents
with such promptitude that it was concluded as early as the 18th of
September. The conditions of this treaty involved compromises on both
sides. It was agreed that Azov and its surrounding territory should be
evacuated and remain uncultivated, as a neutral boundary between the
two empires; a similar arrangement was guaranteed respecting Kabarda,
both governments agreeing to retain in their hands a certain number of
hostages from that province, for better security against an abuse of the
stipulation. It was also settled that Russia should be at liberty to
erect a fortress on the Don, and that the Porte should construct another
in the Kuban. Some minor conquests of the Russians were surrendered:
Russian fleets were not to be allowed to be kept in the sea of Azov
or the Euxine; and in the latter sea the commerce of Russia was to be
conducted only in Turkish bottoms.
_Internal Administration_
The empress Anna, in thus suddenly concluding a peace with Turkey, was
actuated by a still stronger motive than that which was supplied by the
desertion of Austria. She justly apprehended that Sweden, influenced by
the intrigues of France, who had now attained a decided ascendency in the
councils of Stockholm, would endeavour to distract Russia in the north,
while the main body of her army was occupied with the Porte on the south.
Secret negotiations, carried on between the three powers, appeared to
confirm this suspicion. It was true that, at the conclusion of the last
war, Russia and Sweden had entered into an amnesty for twelve years,
which was renewed for a similar period, on its expiration in the year
1736. But this amnesty served only as a thin disguise for the rankling
and bitter hostility which the Swedes entertained towards Russia. They
had not forgotten the protracted and ruinous struggle between Charles
XII and Peter I, which convulsed the whole kingdom and exhausted its
resources; nor the sacrifices which they were compelled to make at the
Peace of Nystad. These feelings were assiduously cultivated by the French
court, which found easy means of securing a strong party in the national
council, which in fact was paramount in Sweden, the king being completely
under its control. The empress, warned of this increasing desire for a
rupture on the part of Sweden, was the more anxious to come to terms with
Turkey, that she might be free to act in Finland and that neighbourhood,
should it become necessary.
Anna was evidently guided in the whole course of her policy by the
example of Peter I, whom she adopted as her model. Fortunate in the
choice of at least two of her advisers--Ostermann in the council of
state, and Munich at the head of the army--she persevered in her attempts
to complete those projects of improvement which her great predecessor had
left unfinished. The canal connected with the Lake of Ladoga, which was
designed to facilitate the transport of provisions to St. Petersburg,
was brought to a close by her in the year 1738. She also fitted out an
expedition to sail from Kamchatka towards the north, for the purpose of
determining whether Siberia was connected with North America.
The manufacture and commerce of Russia, too, commanded a large share of
her attention. She instructed her ambassadors at foreign courts to make
vigilant inquiries after the most skilful persons engaged in those trades
in which Russia was most deficient; and by this means she was enabled
to draw into her dominions a great number of artisans, particularly
those who were experienced in the production of such fabrics as silks
and woollen stuffs. In furtherance of these views she entered into a
treaty of commerce with Great Britain, from which the industry of her
people derived a fresh and invigorating stimulus. It may be observed,
also, that she increased the numerical population by the return of the
Zaparogian Cossacks to their allegiance, shortly after the opening of
the campaign in the Crimea, which they had forfeited by the rebellion of
Mazeppa; and that she enlarged her territories by the acquisition of the
province inhabited by the Kirghiz, a nomad tribe, on the Chinese borders.
This latter accession was of great importance, from the protection it
afforded to the frontiers against the incursions to which they had
hitherto been continually exposed: while it not only created a new trade
with the Kirghiz themselves, but gave greater freedom to the commercial
intercourse with China, which had been constantly interrupted by these
hostilities.
_Biron the Favourite_
Throughout her life Anna placed unreserved confidence in a favourite
who, rising from a humble station in society to the first place in the
councils of his sovereign, at last aspired to the illicit possession of
her affections. John Ernest Biron, the son of a gamekeeper in Courland,
happening to attract the attention of the duchess, was appointed her
private secretary. From this post he was elevated to the more important
office of chamberlain; and even then it was rumoured that he stood higher
in her grace’s favour than was consistent with the position which he
nominally occupied. When the council elected his mistress to the imperial
throne, it was stipulated that Biron should not be suffered to accompany
her into Russia; and one of the conditions of the capitulation restricted
her from marrying, or choosing an heir, without the consent of the
council and senate. The empress, accepting the sovereignty under these
limitations, left Biron at Mittau, when she came to St. Petersburg; but
she had no sooner abrogated the stipulations within which her power was
restrained, than Biron appeared at court, was created a Russian count,
appointed first lord of the bedchamber, and raised at once to the same
eminence which he had occupied before. Some years previously he had
succeeded in prevailing on the nobility of Courland to confer upon him
the title of duke; and when the Kettler family became extinct by the
death of the duke of Courland, he procured that dignity from the hands of
the electors for himself and his heirs in perpetuity.
Thus glittering with honours, which at best were but surreptitiously
obtained, he took upon himself at once in St. Petersburg the character
of one who wielded an absolute authority. He was careful, however, not
to offend Ostermann or Munich, because, possessing no abilities for
government himself, he was obliged to rely upon them as the instruments
of his power. It was supposed that the Turkish war was undertaken at
the instigation of this daring man, for the purpose of keeping Munich
at a distance from the capital--that officer having attained in a high
degree the confidence of the empress. By the most adroit measures Biron
contrived to remove from a familiar intercourse at court everybody who
might be likely to interfere with his ambitious designs. Apprehensive
that the empress, freed from the control of the council, might entertain
thoughts of marriage, he assiduously limited all opportunities that could
lead to such a result; and even attempted to prevent a union between
the princess Anna and Ulrich duke of Brunswick, the object of which had
reference to the succession. In this scheme, however, the machinations
of Biron were defeated, and the marriage was celebrated in the month of
July, 1739. This event seriously interfered with the projects of the
favourite; but his ingenuity was not exerted in vain in the attempt to
derive profit from circumstances which at first seemed so discouraging.
_Death of Anna (1740 A.D.); the Succession_
[Sidenote: [1740 A.D.]]
[Illustration: RUSSIAN PEASANT WOMAN]
In the August following, the duchess of Brunswick became the mother
of a prince, who was immediately taken by the empress under her own
guardianship and nominated to be her successor. This proceeding,
apparently founded upon some show of justice, was in reality the result
of a deep-laid conspiracy. The empress was in a declining state of
health, and it was felt that she could not long continue to exercise the
sovereignty. In this state of things, it became necessary to provide
a successor by an authentic act that could not afterwards be called
into question. Biron aimed at the concentration of the imperial power
in his own hands; but as an open declaration to that effect would have
provoked animosities dangerous to his safety, it was arranged that the
young prince, then but a few weeks old, should be nominated to the
throne, and that Biron should be appointed regent during the minority
of Ivan. Ostermann and Munich, relying upon the future gratitude of
Biron, favoured this crafty design. Biron coquetted for a time with the
dignities which he was solicited to accept; and pretended at last that,
in undertaking the toils of the regency, he yielded to the importunities
of others at the sacrifice of his own private wishes.
The extent of the power thus delegated to him was specified in the
provisions of the will of the empress, which ordained that he should
be the administrator of government until the emperor Ivan had attained
his seventeenth year; and that, should Ivan die before that time, Biron
should continue guardian to Ivan’s brethren, born after him, who should
succeed him on the throne; but that, should neither Ivan nor any of his
brethren survive, then Biron, with the concurrence of the state, should
elect and confirm a new emperor as unlimited monarch. This was the final
injunction of the czarina, who died in 1740.[b]
_A Russian Estimate of Anna and of Biron_
Contemporaneous writers are unanimous in asserting that, during her
entire reign, Anna Ivanovna was not only under the influence, but, so
to say, under the domination of her favourite. On the basis of such
authorities it therefore became customary to ascribe to Biron and the
Germans who were grouped around him all the cruelties and coarseness
that characterised her reign. But if we subject this question to
a dispassionate and severe criticism it would appear that such an
accusation of Biron--and in general of the Germans who governed with
him--has no firm foundation. It is impossible to ascribe all the
character of the reign to a German clique, because those Germans who were
at the head of the government did not constitute a united corporation,
but each of them followed his own personal interests; they were envious
of one another and at enmity each with the rest.
Biron was a somewhat narrow-minded egotist, incapable of attracting any
circle around him; his power rested exclusively on the personal favour of
the empress; and therefore, as soon as Anna Ivanovna’s eyes were closed
forever, her former favourite had no sure ground to go upon, and although
his deceased mistress had made his position secure yet he was not able to
maintain it a month without her. There is no contemporary indication that
the cruelties which signalised the reign of Anna emanated from Biron or
that they were accomplished at his initiative.
Moreover, the cruelties and in general the harsh measures which
signalised the reign of Anna Ivanovna were not an exclusive
characteristic of that epoch; they did not begin to make their appearance
in Russia with her and did not cease with her. The administration of
Peter the Great was signalised by persecutions even more cruel and
harsh of everything opposed to the supreme power. The actions of Prince
Romodanovski in accordance with the Preobrajenski edict were in no wise
milder or more humane than those of Andrew Ivanovitch Uskakov in the
secret chancery. On the other hand, similar features of cruelty and
contempt for human dignity are to be met with after Anna Ivanovna under
Elizabeth Petrovna. Therefore we do not hesitate to say that all that
disturbs us in the reign of Anna should not be ascribed to the empress
herself, nor to her favourite, the duke of Courland, but to the whole age
in which such occurrences took place. On the contrary, if we separate
from that which belongs to the age what we may justly ascribe to the
empress herself and the statesmen of her time, we come to a conclusion
which is more to the advantage and credit of the government of the epoch
than to its condemnation. Many dispositions of the government of that
time in matters of interior policy were accomplished in the spirit of
Peter the Great and it was not in vain that Anna Ivanovna confided the
affairs of the state to the wise and gifted “fledgelings” of Peter.
Thanks to them, in many respects the reign of Anna may be called a
continuation of the glorious reign of her great uncle: in general the
life of Russia moved forward and was not stagnant. The people of Russia
suffered from bad harvests during the reign, besides other various
accidental calamities, as for instance fires and robbers; for all such
evils, of course, the governments of the period cannot be blamed, and
there is no doubt that measures were taken to alleviate the distress of
the people.[c]
THE NOMINAL REIGN OF IVAN VI (1740-1741 A.D.)
For a short time after the death of Anna (1740) Biron maintained
an autocratic rule, assuming the title of His Highness, Regent of
the Russian Empire. But finally the people, jealous of seeing the
administration of the imperial rule confided to the hands of a
foreigner--and one too who, instead of exhibiting a sympathy in their
interests, treated them with the most flagrant tyranny--betrayed
universal discontent at the new order of things. It was held to be
a direct act of injustice to debar the duke of Brunswick from the
guardianship of his son; and a formidable party now rapidly sprang up,
prepared to espouse the rights of that prince. The popular disaffection
increased on all sides; but Biron had established his spies in every
direction, and was unsparing in the punishments which he inflicted
upon all those persons whom he had reason to believe inimical to his
government. The streets groaned with the cries of the victims of the
knout; the people fled before him, or, in an agony of fear, prostrated
themselves upon the earth as he advanced; and the dungeons were filled
with the unhappy objects of his suspicions. It was calculated that,
throughout the period of his authority, including the reign of the
empress Anna, no less than twenty thousand persons were exiled to Siberia.
At length the smothered flame broke out, and the demands in favour of
Duke Ulrich took an affirmative shape. Count Munich, disappointed in his
expectations by the hypocritical Biron, warmly embarked on the other
side; and, by still affecting to be the friend of the regent, he was
enabled to render essential service in the revolution which was now
swiftly encircling the walls of the palace. The confidence which the
military placed in Munich gave increased importance to his services; and,
as he found that he had nothing to expect from the regent, he attached
himself zealously to Duke Ulrich in the anticipation that he would
ultimately be rewarded with the chief command of the army, which was the
station he had long eagerly desired to obtain.
The revolution which was thus organised was promptly accomplished. The
regent was arrested in the middle of the night, in his house, by a
detachment of the guards; and the principal senators assembled in the
palace before daybreak, and acknowledged the princess Anna as grand
duchess of Russia, and guardian of her son the infant emperor. This
proceeding was the work of a few hours. Biron was at first confined
in the castle of Schlüsselburg, whence he was removed as a prisoner
and brought to trial for obtaining the regency by improper means, for
squandering the imperial treasures, for treating with contumely the
parents of the emperor, and for violating the statutes and ordinances
so as to throw the empire into confusion. For these capital offences
he was condemned to death; but his sentence was mitigated to perpetual
banishment to the deserts of Siberia, where, in addition to the ordinary
miseries of that forlorn region, he was compelled to associate in the
labours of the numerous wretches whom he had himself condemned to the
same fate. [He was, however, set at liberty by Peter III, and Catherine
II ultimately restored to him the duchy of Courland.]
_Anna of Brunswick Assumes the Regency (1740 A.D.)_
The regency of the princess Anna was slightly perplexed at its opening,
by the importunate demands of Munich to be placed at the head of the
army--a post which Duke Ulrich appropriated to himself, and peremptorily
refused to relinquish. As a compensation, however, to Munich, he removed
Ostermann, and appointed his rival in his place as first minister of the
government. Munich did not long hold this office: failing to accomplish
a course of policy which he urged upon the regent, he tendered his
resignation, which was unexpectedly accepted. Frustrated in his hopes,
he lingered in St. Petersburg, anticipating that he would be recalled;
but the period of his utility was past, and his anticipations were
disappointed. The ground of his retirement involved a serious change in
the foreign policy of the empire. Frederick II had just ascended the
throne of Prussia, and, regarding with jealousy the alliance that had
been formed between the courts of St. Petersburg and Vienna, endeavoured
to accomplish a union with Russia through the regency of Munich, whose
antipathy to Austria was notorious. Frederick did not find it very
difficult to work upon the vanity and prejudices of the minister, who
was easily brought to prevail upon the regent to enter into a defensive
treaty with the cabinet of Berlin; both parties mutually binding
themselves to furnish assistance, as occasion might require, to the
extent of twelve thousand men. In consenting to this treaty, the regent
mentally resolved to fulfil the stipulation it enjoined, only so long
as Prussia should be at peace with Austria. An occasion soon offered
which obliged her to act upon this secret resolution, Frederick having
signified his intention of taking possession of Silesia as a part of the
inheritance of Maria Theresa. In consequence of this proceeding, a new
alliance was formed with Austria at the commencement of the year 1741, by
which a fresh engagement to furnish auxiliaries was entered into. Munich
in vain remonstrated against this measure; and at last, finding his
influence at an end, he solicited permission to resign, which was granted
to him at once. Notwithstanding the disposition thus manifested on the
part of Russia, she did not take any part in the war between Prussia and
Austria; particularly as the king of Poland and the elector of Saxony,
who also raised pretensions to the patrimony of Theresa, protested
against the progress of the Russian troops through Poland; Sweden at the
same time threatening the empire on the borders of Finland.
_Sweden Renews the War_
[Sidenote: [1741 A.D.]]
The Swedes had long looked anxiously for an excuse to make war against
Russia; and now that the government of that empire was, to a certain
degree, unpopular, and likely from that circumstance to undergo an
alteration, a favourable opportunity appeared to present itself for
executing a project so gratifying to the whole nation. The ambassador
of France at the court of Stockholm encouraged the council to prosecute
this war; while the French minister at St. Petersburg demonstrated its
facility by representing in strong colours the weakness and instability
of the new administration. The Swedes, flattered by the hopes in which
they were led to indulge, already calculated with certainty upon the
results of the campaign; and the diet at Stockholm were so sanguine of
success that they actually drew up no less than three sets of articles
containing the conditions which they intended to dictate at the
conclusion of the war, when they were assured Russia would be compelled
to submit to any terms they might propose. By these articles, they made
provision for the resumption of all the provinces that had been ceded to
Russia by the Treaty of Nystad; and prepared arrangements, in the event
of these not being quite so successful as they expected, by which certain
terms, less humiliating but exceedingly extravagant, were to be forced
upon their adversary. It was decided, at all events, that, in any case,
Russia should surrender Karelia, Ingermanland, and Livonia; that she
should not be permitted to keep a single ship on the Livonia or Esthonian
coasts; and that she should be compelled to grant the free exportation of
corn.
These plans of aggrandisement were deliberately settled by the diet,
before any preparations were made for their execution. The Swedes were
zealous enough in their desire to wrest from Russia her conquered
territories; but they were lamentably deficient in the means by which
that desire was to be accomplished. Their fleet was not seaworthy;
and the army, brave to a proverb, was insufficiently furnished with
provisions, and so destitute of skilful commanders that if it had
achieved a victory it must have been by some miracle of good fortune,
and not by its own prowess. The generals Levenhaupt and Buddembrock were
the most strenuous advocates of the war; yet, although its conduct was
committed to their own hands, the sequel proved that the enterprise was
as rashly conceived as it was badly conducted.
Russia was the first in the field; and General Lacy, advancing on the
Swedes in August, 1741, before they had time to organise their forces,
obtained a signal victory over them near Vilmanstrand. This fortress
immediately surrendered to the Russians; but the Swedes collected in such
superior numbers that no further progress was made by Lacy throughout the
rest of the campaign.
When Sweden entered upon this ill-advised war, she acted under a
conviction that serious discontents prevailed in Russia against the
regency of the duchess of Brunswick. The sudden changes, succeeding
each other with marvellous rapidity, that had taken place in the
imperial government, justified, in some measure, the supposition that
the present regency was as much exposed to revolution as the preceding
administrations. The question of the succession had been treated so
vaguely, and had been subjected to such fluctuating decisions, that it
was believed some new theory would be set up to annul the last election,
as others had been annulled before. There was no doubt that the division
of parties in Russia afforded a reasonable ground for anticipating a
convulsion. The supreme power had latterly become the prize for which
base and ambitious men, without hereditary pretensions and destitute of
personal merit, had struggled with various degrees of success. There was
evidently no settled principle of inheritance; and even the dangerous
principle sanctioned by the example of Peter the Great, which gave to one
unlimited sovereign the right of choosing another to succeed him, was
acted upon capriciously, and appealed to or overruled as it happened to
suit the exigency of the occasion.
The brief reigns of Catherine, of Peter, and of Anna, remarkable as they
were for the confusion to which they led in the attempts to settle the
crown, for the vicissitudes which they drew down upon persons who had
previously enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity, and for the factious views
which they extracted and condensed into conspiracies, might be referred
to as furnishing the probabilities of the future, and confirming the
hopes of those who desired, above all things, to see Russia once more
broken up by civil commotions. The antipathy which existed against
foreigners, and the objections of the old aristocracy to those European
reforms that had been from time to time forced upon the people, were
well known to the courts of Stockholm and Paris. The vulnerable point
in the domestic concerns of the empire was laid bare; and Sweden, who
anticipated a revolution from some cause or other, without being able
to predicate from what precise ground of discontent it would spring,
resolved, at all events, to expose to the Russians the permanent evil of
their condition, leaving it to work its effects as it might. With this
view she issued a manifesto, containing the following artful reasons,
which were designed to draw with her the sympathies of the Russian
population.
“The sole intention on the part of Sweden,” observed the manifesto, “is
to defend herself by arms against the oppressions exercised against
her by the arrogant foreigners, the ministers of the Russian court;
and at the same time to deliver the Russian nation from the yoke which
these ministers have imposed on it, by assisting the Russians to regain
their right of electing for themselves a lawful ruler.” The foreigners
particularly pointed at in this manifesto were Munich and Ostermann. The
allusion, towards the close, of the design of Sweden to deliver Russia
from the yoke of those ministers and to assist her in her right of
electing a lawful ruler, touched upon topics which were well calculated
to disturb the minds of the people, and to suggest to them notions
of independence which they had been hitherto prevented by coercive
institutions from entertaining. But there was either a stolid apathy on
the part of the Russians, an indifference to or ignorance of the nature
of liberty, or a national jealousy at the interference of other countries
in their affairs, which rendered this ingenious and inflammatory document
perfectly harmless. It was disseminated and forgotten; but, although
Sweden could not create a revolution in Russia, there were elements of
discord within which rendered revolution inevitable.
The assertion of the right of the sovereign to nominate his successor was
productive of inconvenience in a variety of ways: (1) as it constantly
brought the new monarch into collision with the authorities, who were
thus deprived of the privilege of election; (2) as it was almost certain
to dissatisfy some party, and to produce continual feuds; (3) as it
led to dissensions and attempts to vindicate the ancient principle,
whenever the sovereign, as we have seen, happened to die intestate;
and (4) as it was calculated to perpetuate in particular families the
inheritance of the patronage and the power of government. But the chief
danger arose from the fatal precedent of its interruption, which was
seized upon with avidity as a justification, on all future changes, of
those revolutions which so frequently originated within the walls of the
palace. Alterations had now followed each other so quickly in the persons
to whom the administration of the government was committed, and they were
conceived so rapidly, and executed with such suddenness and decision,
that it was no longer surprising to find the imperial authority vested in
the morning in different hands from those which exercised it the night
before.
These bold transactions were, of course, founded upon some plausible
pretext--the unpopularity of the late ruler, the more authentic claims
of the new, the support of the army, or, perhaps, the rare argument of
the national will, which it would be mockery to designate public opinion.
The overthrow of Biron was effected by a combination of circumstances:
the hatred in which he was universally held, his cruelty and rapacity,
the obscurity of his origin, and the fact that he was an alien by birth.
But the last of these objections lay with almost equal force against
the young emperor Ivan, and might be employed with still greater truth
against his father, the duke of Brunswick, who, as husband of the regent,
exercised considerable influence at court. A stronger motive than this
was not required to inflame the prejudices of a powerful section of the
nobility, and to yield a satisfactory apology for removing the regent and
her son, who was not considered a true Russian, from power. The project
was not slow in arriving at maturity; and the term of authority permitted
to the guardian of Ivan was, all circumstances considered, of little more
duration than that extended to Biron, who held his perilous elevation
only two and twenty days.
_Successful Conspiracy against the Regent_
These designs against the throne were greatly facilitated by the
strange conduct of the princess Anna and her husband. Since they had
attained their wishes in the government, their behaviour towards each
other had undergone a most remarkable change. Harmony and confidence
seemed to have ceased between them; and, no longer acting in concert,
but, on the contrary, opposing each other by conflicting views, the
affairs of the state unavoidably fell into perplexity and confusion.
The rivalry that had been produced between Ostermann and Munich in
consequence of the favour shown, in the first instance, by the duke to
the latter, contributed to increase that disagreement in action which
was imperceptibly dividing the government into two parties. Ostermann,
finding himself displaced to make way for Munich, attached himself still
more closely to the duke, for the purpose of supplanting his rival upon
the first opportunity; while Munich, on the other hand, smarting under
the mortification he endured by the duke’s repeated refusal of the
office he solicited, sought to ingratiate himself in the good opinion
of the regent. The consequence of this spirit of opposition, fed by the
jealousies of those able ministers, was the daily counteraction by one
party of the measures projected by the other.
The regent was a woman of serene temper and lenient disposition; she
regarded severity with aversion, and always resorted to the prerogative
of mercy where it was possible she could do so consistently with justice:
but her desires were so completely thwarted by Ostermann that the public
results of the administration bore a very different character from that
by which they would have been distinguished had her own opinions been
allowed their proper weight. Perhaps it was to this undercurrent of
resistance that the indifference concerning the government into which she
fell ought to be attributed. But, to whatever cause it might be referred,
she gradually neglected the duties of her station, and suffered them to
be discharged at hazard by the advisers of the duke. Totally estranging
herself from her husband, she retired for weeks together from public
affairs, and shut herself up with a Countess Mengden, who obtained so
great an ascendency over her mind as to withdraw her attention almost
wholly from the responsibility of her position. This circumstance
produced considerable dissatisfaction, and heightened the antipathy
with which the people regarded the German party that was now growing
up at court. The aversion entertained towards foreigners now broke out
with more violence than ever. It seemed as if the administration of
affairs had completely passed out of the hands of the Russians. The
convention that had been formed on the demise of Peter II, by which the
supreme authority was vested in the council, which was composed almost
exclusively of members of native families, would have had indirectly the
effect of excluding strangers from the government; but the evils with
which it was pregnant, and its immediate interference with the privileges
of the empress, led to its abrogation. The ascendency of foreigners was
then resumed with greater force than ever. Biron the insolent guardian,
Ostermann the experienced politician, and Munich the able commander rose
to the summit and swayed the destinies of the empire.
Nor did Ivan himself possess a much better claim to be considered as a
Russian. He was but a remote descendant of the house of Romanov; his
father was a German prince, his mother the daughter of a German prince;
and the only member of the imperial house to whom he could refer his
lineal descent was his grandfather Ivan, stepbrother to Peter I. The
family, therefore, that occupied the throne, was almost exclusively of
German blood, which was rendered still more repugnant to the people by
the fact that all the most important offices under government were filled
by foreigners. There was in these circumstances, and in the desire to
arrest finally the influence of strangers--which appeared to progress
with increasing certainty in each successive reign--a sufficient ground
for protest; and the extraordinary indolence of the regent, her utter
neglect of state affairs, her discouragement of Russian customs, and her
lavish patronage of her immediate adherents, who were all obnoxious to
the people, furnished the ready pretext upon which a plot was formed to
expel her from the throne.
The princess Elizabeth, daughter of Peter I, residing at St. Petersburg,
was the person in favour of whose claims this conspiracy was got up.
By birth, she was closer to the throne than either the young emperor
or the regent; and the habits of her life were much more congenial to
the feelings of the country. She might have preferred her pretensions
on the death of Peter II, when there was a strong probability that they
would have commanded the suffrages of the council; but at that time she
expressed no desire to enter upon the cares of sovereignty, choosing
rather to cultivate the repose of a retired and tranquil life. Throughout
the reign of the empress Anna she observed the same quiet course, kept
aloof from politics, and avoiding, as much as possible, all intercourse
with the great men or distinguished families at court. Her conduct was
so entirely free from suspicion that she enjoyed the closest intimacy
with the empress, who, believing that the princess was averse to the
toils of power, bestowed her full confidence upon her; and even Biron,
who distrusted almost everyone about him, never contemplated any measure
to her prejudice. She enjoyed the immunities of a private person; never
made any display of her rank in public; and was in truth, as she was
in appearance, without a party in the country. The only exception to
the privacy of her life was the attachment she showed for the soldiery,
particularly the guards; which she did not hesitate to exhibit by
frequently standing sponsor for their children.
Yet, although her conduct was so exempt from reproach, the Dolgoruki were
accused of an intention of placing her upon the throne--an intention
which they might have entertained without her knowledge or sanction; for
there was sometimes as much violence committed in forcing the dignity
upon unwilling shoulders as in deposing the possessor. That aspiring
family fell under the displeasure of Biron, and its members were put to
the torture towards the close of the year 1739; when they confessed that
they had planned an insurrection, the purpose of which was to carry off
the empress, the princess Anna, and her husband, to expel the Germans
from Russia, to proclaim Elizabeth empress, and to bring about a marriage
between her and one of the Nariskins. This confession might be true, or
it might have been wrung from the accused by torture, which, in those
times, was too often persuasively employed to make its victims confess
more than the truth; but it was satisfactory for the ends of Biron, who,
proceeding to capital punishment at once, broke one of the victims on the
wheel, decapitated three others, and sentenced two more to a dungeon for
life.
There is no reason to believe that Elizabeth contemplated any designs
upon the throne during the reign of the empress Anna, or that the
simplicity of her general conduct was assumed as a disguise for secret
intrigues. The project seems to have occurred to her for the first time,
when she saw an infant emperor consigned to the regency of a foreigner;
it was probably strengthened afterwards, when the guardianship of the
child was transferred to its parents, one of whom was a German by birth,
and the other by descent; and it reached its maturity, when she heard
it reported currently that the regent intended to have herself declared
empress on her birthday in the following December, 1741, and to establish
the succession in the line of her daughters. This intelligence, which
every day obtained fresh credit at court, imparted a new aspect to the
question. It was no longer to be considered a choice between lineal and
indirect descendants of the house of Romanov, but between a sovereign who
should be chosen by the electors and one who was resolved to usurp by
force what she could not legitimately obtain.
The discontent of the people, the inconsistent bearing of the regent,
and the favourable disposition for a change which began to be developed
in influential quarters, seemed to sanction the act of revolution, and
to invoke Elizabeth from her retirement to fulfil its ends. Personally,
she stood alone; she had never drawn around her any powerful friends;
she had never mixed in the court feuds; and her whole reliance was upon
the temper and accidents of the time. But it was not forgotten in her
calculations that the individual who is the representative of a principle
acquires at once all the power which the cause he espouses can confer,
and that he is sure to be sustained by a party for the promotion of their
own objects, although he might be destitute of support in the attempt to
advance his own.
Lestocq, the physician and favourite of the princess, was the mainspring
of the plot. It was by his advice that the enterprise was undertaken,
and it was almost solely by his perseverance that it was prosecuted. He
first addressed himself to the guards, who were individually devoted to
the princess. The earliest confidants of his schemes were Grünstein, a
broken merchant, who was then a corporal in the Preobrajenski guards,
and Schwartz, a trumpeter. Through the agency of these persons, to whom
he promised large rewards, Lestocq succeeded in gaining over to his
views a strong party of the soldiery. M. de la Chetardie, the French
ambassador resident at St. Petersburg, readily engaged in the conspiracy,
acting, no doubt, under the sanction of his court, whose policy it was to
convulse the Russian government by any means in its power, in the hope
of ultimately effecting a disunion between that cabinet and the Austrian
emperor. From that minister Lestocq procured the sums of money that were
necessary to carry forward his plans, which now proceeded with rapidity.
But Elizabeth, who had entered into the project with reluctance, regarded
its progress with fear, and was as anxious to postpone the catastrophe as
Lestocq was eager for its accomplishment. This produced delays which were
nearly fatal. The soldiers, entrusted with a secret of too much magnitude
for persons in their condition, could not long preserve the confidence
that was reposed in them; and at last the design began to be rumoured
abroad. It even reached the ears of the regent, who, possessed by some
unaccountable infatuation, treated it with the utmost carelessness. She
either did not believe in its truth, or lulled herself into security
by depending upon the fidelity of her friends. Unmoved by the danger
that threatened her, she concealed from her husband the information she
had received; for which, when it was too late to retrace her steps, he
afterwards severely censured her. Ostermann, who was early made aware of
the proceedings of the conspirators, warned the regent of her danger,
and entreated her to take some decisive measures to avert it: and the
British ambassador, detecting, probably, the insidious hand of France,
predicted her destruction in vain. Her facile nature still lingered
inactive, until at last she received an anonymous letter, in which she
was strongly admonished of the perils by which she was surrounded. A
more energetic mind would have acted unhesitatingly upon these repeated
proofs of the approaching insurrection; but Anna, still clinging to the
side of mercy, instead of seizing upon the ringleaders, who were known
to her, and quieting at once the apprehensions of her advisers, read the
whole contents of the letter in open court in the presence of Elizabeth,
and stated the nature of the reports that had reached her. Elizabeth, of
course, protested her ignorance of the whole business, burst into a flood
of tears, and asserted her innocence with such a show of sincerity that
the regent was perfectly satisfied, and took no further notice of the
matter.
This occurred on the 4th of December, 1741. Lestocq had previously
appointed the day of the consecration of the waters, the 6th of January,
1742, for Elizabeth to make her public appearance at the head of the
guards, to issue declarations setting forth her claims upon the throne,
and to cause herself to be proclaimed. But the proceeding that had
taken place in the court determined him to hasten his plans. Now that
the vigilance of the court was awakened, he knew that his motions would
be watched, and that the affair did not admit of any further delay. He
applied himself, accordingly, with redoubled vigilance, to the business
of collecting and organising the partisans of the princess; continued to
bribe them with French gold; and, when everything was prepared, he again
impressed upon his mistress the urgent necessity of decision. He pointed
out to her that the guards, upon whose assistance she chiefly relied,
were under orders to march for Sweden, and that in a short time all would
be lost. She was still, however, timid and doubtful of the result, when
the artful Lestocq drew a card from his pocket, which represented her
on one side in the habit of a nun, and on the other with a crown upon
her head--asking her which fate she preferred; adding that the choice
depended upon herself, and upon the promptitude with which she employed
the passing moment. This argument succeeded; she consented to place
herself in his hands; and, remembering the success that had attended the
midnight revolution that consigned Biron to banishment, he appointed
the following night, the 5th of December, for the execution of his
plan--undertaking the principal part himself, in the hope of the honours
that were to be heaped upon him in the event of success.
When the hour arrived Elizabeth again betrayed irresolution, but
Lestocq overcame her fears; and after having made a solemn vow before
the crucifix that no blood should be shed in the attempt, she put on
the order of St. Catherine, and placing herself in a sledge, attended
by Lestocq and her chamberlain, she drove to the barracks of the
Preobrajenski guards. When she arrived at this point, she advanced
towards the soldiers on foot, holding the cross in her hand; and,
addressing them in a speech of some length, justified the grounds on
which she advanced her claims to the throne; reminded them that she was
the daughter of Peter the Great; that she had been illegally deprived of
the succession; that a foreign child wielded the imperial sceptre; and
that foreigners were advanced, to the exclusion of native Russians, to
the highest offices in the state. A considerable number of the guards
had been previously prepared for this proceeding by bribes and promises,
and inflammatory liquors were distributed amongst them to heighten their
zeal. With the exception of a few, who would not violate their duty and
who were, in consequence, manacled by the remainder, the whole body
responded to the address with enthusiasm.
They now proceeded to the palace of the emperor and his parents, pressing
into their train everybody they met on the way, to prevent their object
from being betrayed; and, forcing the sentries at the gates, obtained
easy admittance to the sleeping apartments of the regent and the duke,
whom they dragged, unceremoniously, and without affording them time to
dress, out of their beds, and conveyed to the palace of Elizabeth, where
they confined them under a strong guard. The infant Ivan, unconscious
of the misery that awaited him, was enjoying a gentle slumber during
this scene of violence; and when he awoke he was carried, in a similar
manner, to the place where his unhappy parents were immured. On the same
night the principal persons connected with the government were seized in
the same way, and thrown into prison. Amongst them were Lewis Ernest of
Brunswick, the brother of the duke, Ostermann, and Munich.
This revolution was as rapid and complete as that which deprived Biron
of the regency, and was effected by a similar stealthy proceeding in the
silence of the night. Early on the following morning, the inhabitants
were called upon to take the oath of fealty to Elizabeth. But they were
accustomed to these sudden movements in the palace; and before the day
was concluded the shouts of the intoxicated soldiery announced that
the people had confirmed, by the usual attestation of allegiance, the
authority of the empress.[49] A manifesto was immediately issued, which
contained the following statement: