The empress Anna having nominated the grandson of her sister, a child

born into the world only a few weeks before the empress’ death, as

successor to the throne; during the minority of whom various persons

had conducted the administration of the empire in a manner highly

iniquitous, whence disturbances had arisen both within the country and

out of it, and probably in time still greater might arise; therefore

all the faithful subjects of Elizabeth, both in spiritual and temporal

stations, particularly the regiments of the life-guards, had unanimously

invited her, for the prevention of all the mischievous consequences to be

apprehended, to take possession of the throne of her father as nearest by

right of birth; and that she had accordingly resolved to yield to this

universal request of her faithful subjects, by taking possession of her

inheritance derived from her parents, the emperor Peter I and the empress

Catherine.

Shortly after this another manifesto appeared, in which Elizabeth

grounded her legitimacy on the will of Catherine I. As the statements

in this document respecting the right of inheritance are singular in

themselves, and as they illustrate in a very remarkable degree the

irregularity with which the question of the succession was suffered to

be treated, the passage touching upon those points appears to be worthy

of preservation. It will be seen, upon reference to previous facts, that

these statements are highly coloured to suit the demands of the occasion.

After some preliminaries, the manifesto proceeds to observe, that on the

demise of Peter II, whom she (Elizabeth) ought to have succeeded, Anna

was elected through the machinations of Ostermann; and afterwards, when

the sovereign was attacked by a mortal distemper, the same Ostermann

appointed as successor the son of Prince Antony Ulrich of Brunswick and

the princess of Mecklenburg, a child only two months old, who had not the

slightest claim by inheritance to the Russian throne; and, not content

with this, he added, to the prejudice of Elizabeth, that after Ivan’s

death the princes afterwards born of the said prince of Brunswick and the

princess of Mecklenburg should succeed to the Russian throne; whereas

even the parents themselves had not the slightest right to that throne.

That Ivan was, therefore, by the machinations of Ostermann and Munich,

confirmed emperor in October, 1740; and because the several regiments

of guards, as well as the marching regiments, were under the command of

Munich and the father of Ivan, and consequently the whole force of the

empire was in the hands of those two persons, the subjects were compelled

to take the oath of allegiance to Ivan. That Antony Ulrich and his spouse

had afterwards broken this ordinance, to which they themselves had sworn;

had forcibly seized upon the administration of the empire; and Anna had

resolved, even in the lifetime of her son Ivan, to place herself upon

the throne as empress. That, in order, then, to prevent all dangerous

consequences from these proceedings, Elizabeth had ascended the throne,

and of her own imperial grace had ordered the princess with her son and

daughter to set out for their native country.

Such were the arguments upon which Elizabeth attempted to justify her

seizure of the throne. With what sincerity she fulfilled the act of grace

towards the regent and her family, expressed in the last sentence, will

be seen hereafter.

ELIZABETH PETROVNA (1741-1762 A.D.)

The revolution which elevated Elizabeth to the throne and the

circumstances which preceded that elevation were in every respect

remarkable. She had no claim to the dignity, either by birth or by the

regulation in regard to the succession introduced by the innovating

Peter. Elizabeth was the younger daughter of Peter: Anna, who had been

married to the duke of Holstein, was the elder; and though this princess

was dead, she left a son, the representative of her rights, who, as

we shall hereafter perceive, did ultimately reign as Peter III. The

right of primogeniture, indeed, had, in the regulation to which we have

alluded, been set aside, and the choice, pure and simple, of the reigning

potentate substituted; but the infant Peter had the additional claim

of being expressly indicated in the will of Catherine I. These claims,

however, had been utterly disregarded when Anna, duchess of Courland and

daughter of Ivan, brother of Peter I, had been raised by a faction to the

throne. On the death of this empress without issue, Peter, as we have

seen, was again overlooked, through the ambition rather of an individual

than of a faction--the bloodthirsty Biron.

Ivan, the son of Anna, had been preferred to his mother, who had been

married to Prince Antony Ulrich of Brunswick; and no doubt could be

entertained that the object of Biron, in prevailing on the empress to

nominate the child, was to retain the supreme power in his own hands

as regent. We have seen by what means his ruin was effected; what

circumstances accompanied the regency of the duchess Anna, mother of the

youthful emperor; and how, by a similar revolution, Anna herself was

replaced by the princess Elizabeth.

That Ivan had no other right to the throne than that conferred

by the will of the empress Anna, was one of the pretexts which

Elizabeth employed to prove the validity of her own title. That will,

in the manifesto published three days after the revolution, was

insinuated--probably with great truth--to have been irregularly obtained;

but in either case it was of no validity, since the right of Elizabeth

was asserted to be superior even to that of the former empress. But the

instrument was a tissue of sophistry. Though she had been placed on the

throne by about three hundred soldiers, she did not hesitate to affirm

that the revolution had been effected at the demand of all her subjects.

In ostentatiously displaying her clemency, in proclaiming that she had

sent back the parents of Ivan to their own country, with all the honours

due to their station, she was equally insincere. Both passed their

lives in captivity, and were transferred from one fortress to another,

according to her caprice or jealousy. Until his eighth year Ivan was

permitted to remain with them; but, apprehensive lest his mind should be

taught ambition, he was consigned to solitary confinement first in the

fortress of Oranienburg, next in that of Schlüsselburg. In one respect

his fate was worse than that of his parents: they died in the course of

nature[50]; he, as we shall hereafter perceive, perished by violence.

[Illustration: ELIZABETH PETROVNA

(1709-1762)]

One of Elizabeth’s first cares was to punish the men who had, during

the former reigns, kept her from the throne--those especially who had

assisted the regent Anna in overturning the power of Biron, and had

instigated her afterwards to seize the throne. All were condemned to

death; but the new empress was not a woman of blood, and the sentence was

commuted into perpetual banishment. Ostermann, Munich, Golovkin, Mengden,

Lövenwold, driven from a power scarcely less than supreme and from riches

almost inexhaustible, were forced to earn their own subsistence in the

wilds of Siberia. Munich opened a school. The hand which had conquered

the Turks, which had given a king to Poland, was employed in tracing

mathematical figures for children.

If Elizabeth could punish, she could also reward. The surgeon, Lestocq,

was made head physician of the court, president of the college of the

faculty, and privy councillor, with a magnificent income. The company

of grenadiers who had raised her to the throne were all declared noble;

and the common soldiers ranked in future as lieutenants. But under a

despotic government there is little security for the great, least of all

for those whom capricious favour has exalted. Presuming on his services,

the ambition of Lestocq urged him to demand higher preferment, and he had

the mortification to be refused. Nor was this all: by his arrogance he

offended the most powerful favourites of Elizabeth, especially the grand

chancellor Bestuzhev, who had been the minister of Anna; and, in seven

years after the revolution, he was exiled to a fortress in the government

of Archangel. Exile, in short, was perpetual in this reign. The empress

vowed that no culprit should suffer death; but death would often have

been preferable to the punishments which were inflicted. Torture, the

knout, slitting of the tongue, and other chastisements--so cruel that the

sufferer frequently died in consequence--were not spared even females.

[Sidenote: [1743 A.D.]]

Soon after her accession a conspiracy was discovered, the object of

which was the restoration of young Ivan. The conspirators, who were

encouraged by a foreign minister, were seized, severely chastised,

and sent into exile. Among them was a court beauty, whose charms had

long given umbrage to the czarina, and we may easily conceive that the

revenge was doubly sweet which could at once destroy the rebel and the

rival. But the number of these victims was small, compared with that

which was consigned to unknown dungeons, and doomed to pass the rest of

life in hopeless despondency. With all her humanity, Elizabeth suffered

that most inquisitorial court, the secret chancery, to subsist; and the

denunciations which were laid before it were received as implicitly as

the clearest evidence in other tribunals.

_Foreign Affairs (1743-1757 A.D.)_

In her foreign policy this empress seems scarcely to have had an object.

Averse to business, and fond of pleasure, she allowed her ministers,

especially Bestuzhev, to direct the operations of the wars in which

she was engaged, and to conduct at will the diplomacy of the empire.

Her first enemy was Sweden. That power demanded the restitution of

Finland, and was refused; hostilities which, indeed, had commenced at the

instigation of France during the last reign, were resumed, but they were

prosecuted with little vigour by the Swedes. The valour of the nation

appeared to have died with their hero, Charles XII. So unfortunate were

their arms that, by the Treaty of Nystad, in 1721, and that of Åbo, in

1743, Livonia, Esthonia, Karelia, Ingermanland, Viborg, and Kexholm

passed under the domination of Russia.

Still worse than the loss of their possessions was the influence

thenceforward exercised over the court of Stockholm by that of St.

Petersburg. In vain did Sweden endeavour to moderate the exactions of the

empress by electing the duke of Holstein, her nephew, successor to the

throne of the Goths: the Treaty of Åbo was not the less severe. It is,

indeed, true that the intelligence of this election did not reach St.

Petersburg until Elizabeth herself, who was resolved never to marry,[51]

had already nominated Duke Peter as her own successor; but she ought to

have received in a better spirit a step designed as an act of homage to

herself.

Had Elizabeth known her own interests, she would never have engaged in

the celebrated war which during so many years shook all Europe to its

centre. But, in the first place, she affected much commiseration for the

Polish king, whose Saxon dominions were invaded by the Prussians, and

whom she called her ally. In the second, she was evidently actuated by a

personal antipathy to Frederick, and whoever were his enemies were sure

to be her allies. It would, however, be wrong to suppose that personal

feeling alone was her sole motive for interfering in a foreign war.

There can be no doubt that even at this early period, and indeed long

before this period, the ministers of Russia had cast a longing eye on the

possessions of Poland.

[Sidenote: [1757 A.D.]]

Courland and Semigallia, though nominally dependent on the Polish crown,

were in reality provinces of Russia. They had been lost to Poland

through the marriage of Anna, niece of Peter I, to Kettler, sovereign

of the duchy. Though she had no issue; though Ferdinand, the successor

of Kettler, was also childless; though the Polish diet contended, with

justice, that the fief was revertible to the republic, Anna was resolved

that its future destiny should be changed. Under the pretext of certain

pecuniary claims, the Russian troops overran the territory; and the

states were compelled to elect Biron, the parent of the empress, to the

vacant dignity. After the fall of that unprincipled adventurer, the

states, disgusted with Russian preponderance, had ventured to unite

their suffrages in favour of Charles, son of Frederick Augustus III

king of Poland; but Frederick durst not sanction the election until he

had obtained the permission of the empress Elizabeth. She could, for

once, well afford to be generous; and Duke Charles was suffered to take

possession of the dignity. And, while on this subject, we may so far

anticipate events as to add that Peter III, successor of Elizabeth,

refused to admit the rights of Charles, whom he expelled from the duchy;

and that Catherine II incorporated it with her dominions. That Elizabeth

herself had the ambitious views of her father, in reference not only to

Courland but to other provinces, is certain; and, as we have already

observed, one of her motives for engaging in the great European contest

was the prospect of ulterior advantages. The pretext of succouring an

ally was sufficient to justify, in the eyes of Europe, the march of her

armies. In this respect, her policy was macchiavellian enough. But to her

the war was an imprudent one; whatever her views, the time was not yet

arrived when they could be fully executed. Nor were the events always

honourable to the military glory of the empire. The reason is generally

and, perhaps, justly assigned to the partiality of the grand duke Peter,

the heir presumptive, for the Prussian monarch--a partiality so great

as to be inexplicable. The Russian generals, however anxious to win the

favour of their sovereign, still more the honours of successful warfare,

were yet loth to incur the dislike of Peter: hence the operations were

indecisive; and success, when gained, was not pursued.

_Antecedents of the Future Peter III_

Charles Peter Ulrich, duke of Holstein Gottorp, whom Elizabeth had

nominated her successor, who had embraced the Greek religion, and who,

at his baptism, had received the name of Peter Fedorovitch, had arrived

at St. Petersburg immediately after her accession. He was then in his

fourteenth year. The education of this unfortunate prince was neglected;

and the cause must be attributed alike to his own aversion to study and

to the indifference of the empress. Military exercises were the only

occupation for which he had any relish, and in them he was indulged.

At the palace of Oranienbaum, with which his aunt had presented him,

he passed the months of his absence from court--a period of freedom

for which he always sighed. As his recollections were German, so also

were his affections. He had little respect for those over whom he was

one day to reign: instead of native, he surrounded himself with young

German officers. His addiction to such exercises became a passion, and

was doubtless one of the causes that so strongly indisposed him to more

serious and more important pursuits.

But it was not the only cause. In his native province he had probably

learned to admire another propensity, common enough in his time--that

of hard drinking; and it was not likely to be much impaired in such a

country as Russia. His potations, which were frequent and long, were

encouraged by his companions; and, in a few years, he became a complete

bacchanalian. If we add that both he and they indulged in gratifications

still more criminal--in licentious amours--we shall not hesitate to

believe the charge of profligacy with which he has been assailed. Whether

the empress was for some time privy to his excesses has been disputed;

but probability affirms that she was, and that, by conniving at these

ignoble pursuits, her policy was to keep him at a distance from the

affairs of state. In this base purpose she was, from motives sufficiently

obvious, zealously assisted by her ministers, especially by Bestuzhev.

Profligate as was the grand duke, he was displeased with this state of

restraint; and he sometimes complained of it with a bitterness that was

sure to be exaggerated by the spies whom they had placed near him.

_The Future Catherine II Appears_

The empress paid little attention to the reports concerning him.

Her purpose was to disqualify him for governing, to render him too

contemptible to be dreaded; nor was she much offended with his murmurs.

That purpose was gained; for Peter had the reputation of being at

once ignorant, vicious, and contemptible. In a country so fertile in

revolutions, where unprincipled adventurers were ever ready to encourage

the discontent of anyone likely to disturb the existing order of things,

this reputation was one of the surest safeguards of Elizabeth’s throne.

She no longer feared that he would be made the tool of the designing,

and she secretly exulted in the success of a policy which Macchiavelli

himself would have admired. Nor did she prove herself unworthy of that

great master in the refined hypocrisy which made her represent her

nephew as a prince of hopeful talents. But even she blushed at some of

his irregularities; and, in the view of justifying him, had furnished

him with a wife. Her choice was unfortunate; it was Sophia Augusta,

daughter of the prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, who, on her conversion to the

Greek faith--a necessary preliminary to her marriage--had received the

baptismal name of Catherine.

This union was entitled to the more attention as in its consequences it

powerfully affected not only the whole of Russia but the whole of Europe.

Shortly before its completion Peter was seized with the smallpox, which

left hideous traces on his countenance. The sight of him is said so far

to have so affected Catherine that she fainted away. But, though she was

only in her sixteenth year, ambition had already over her more influence

than the tender passion, and she smothered her repugnance. Unfortunately,

the personal qualities of the husband were not of a kind to remove the

ill impression; if he bore her any affection, which appears doubtful,

his manners were rude, even vulgar; and she blushed for him whenever

they met in general society. What was still worse, she soon learned to

despise his understanding; and it required little penetration to foresee

that, whatever might be his title after Elizabeth’s death, the power must

rest with Catherine. Hence the courtiers in general were more assiduous

in their attentions to her than to him--a circumstance which did not

much dispose him for the better. Finding no charms in his new domestic

circle, he naturally turned to his boon companions; his orgies became

frequent, and Catherine was completely neglected. Hence her indifference

was exchanged into absolute dislike.

The contrast between their characters exhibited itself in their conduct.

While he was thus earning contempt for himself, she was assiduously

strengthening her party. She had the advantage--we should rather say the

curse--of being directed by a wily mother, who had accompanied her into

Russia, and whose political intrigues were so notorious that at length

she was ordered by the empress to return into Germany. The grand duchess,

however, had been too well tutored to suffer much by her mother’s

departure; and she prosecuted her purpose with an ardour that would have

done honour to a better cause.

So long as the German princess remained at court, the conduct of

Catherine was outwardly decorous; but now less restraint was observable

in her behaviour. She was little deterred by the fear of worldly censure,

in a court where the empress herself was anything but a model of

chastity; and her marital fidelity soon came to be more than doubtful.

_Court Intrigues; the Death of Elizabeth (1762 A.D.)_

[Sidenote: [1762 A.D.]]

That, in concert with several Russian nobles, of whom Bestuzhev was

the chief, Catherine meditated the exclusion of her husband from the

throne and the elevation of herself as regent during the minority of her

son Paul, is a fact that can no longer be disputed. Hence the criminal

condescension of the chancellor to the views of Catherine; hence his

efforts to prevail on the empress to nominate the infant Paul as her

successor. The indiscretion of the grand duke, who was no favourite with

anybody; his frequent complaints of the tutelage in which he was held;

his bursts of indignation at his exclusion from the councils of the

empire--were carefully related to his aunt, with such exaggeration as

were most likely to destroy the last traces of the lingering regard she

bore him. All, indeed, who had been the friends of Catherine, all who had

shared in the confidence of the minister, might well contemplate with

alarm the succession of one that had vowed revenge against the partisans

of both. Besides, the contempt which Peter felt, and which he seldom

hesitated to express, for the Russian people, rendered his succession far

from agreeable to them.

Thus, when, in 1757, Apraxin, field marshal of the Russian forces,

invaded Prussia, took Memel, and, near Jägerndorf, obtained a brilliant

victory over the troops of Frederick, yet, as if defeated, instantly

fell back upon Courland, the cause was something more than the fear

of offending Peter. This retrograde movement surprising, as well it

might, both the empress and her people, Apraxin was placed under arrest,

and the command of the army bestowed on another general. He was tried

for the crime, but absolved--a result still more surprising to men

who regarded merely the surface of things. The reason was that the

grand-chancellor, Bestuzhev, had secretly ordered the marshal to retreat,

and was, of course, his protector in the trial. It was not to please the

heir-presumptive of the crown, whose blind adoration of the Prussian king

was so well known, that Bestuzhev despatched the secret order for Apraxin

to retreat: it was that the chiefs of the army, of whom many were his

creatures, might be ready to join in effecting the revolution which was

meditated. But the ambitious minister, presuming on the distaste which

his imperial mistress generally showed for affairs, and still more on

her bodily indisposition, which at this time placed her life in danger,

proceeded too rapidly. His intrigues were discovered; his letter to the

marshal was produced; he was deprived of all his power; and Peter had the

joy of seeing him exiled.

The general who succeeded Apraxin obtained advantages over the Russian

monarch, which had never been contemplated by his predecessor. But

though he took Königsberg, placed most of Prussia under contribution,

and defeated the Prussian army in a decisive engagement, he, too,

was unwilling to irritate beyond forgiveness the heir of the empire,

especially as the reports which daily reached him of Elizabeth’s health

convinced him that the succession was not far distant. Under the pretext

of illness, he demanded leave to retire. His successor, Soltikov (not,

we may be sure, the favourite of that name), was still more successful.

Frederick was defeated in one of the best contested battles of this

famous war; Berlin was taken, and Kolberg reduced after a vigorous

siege. The news of this last success reached the empress, but she was no

longer capable of deriving satisfaction from it. Much to her honour, she

withstood all the solicitations of the intriguers who wished to exclude

her nephew and to place Paul on the throne, under the regency of his

mother. She died on the 5th day of January, 1762.[b]

_Spread of Art, Literature, and Education under Elizabeth_

The empress Elizabeth had a passion for building; Peter the Great’s

summer palace and even the empress Anna’s winter palace appeared to her

small and confined. Upon the site of the latter she began to build the

present edifices; during her reign was also built the vast, elegant,

and beautiful palace at Tsarskoi Selo; the palace of Oranienbaum

was reconstructed, and the fine churches of the Smolni convent, of

Vladimirskaia and of Nicholas Morskoi (in St. Petersburg) were also

erected. Some handsome private houses were built by Elizabeth’s noblemen,

and in general St. Petersburg, which had not long before been a desert

place, consisting chiefly of wooden houses, became greatly embellished;

the palace quay, as may be seen from drawings and engravings of the time,

already showed a continuous row of huge stone edifices.

Of course all these buildings cost enormous sums which led private

persons into debt and the government into superfluous expenditure, but

it is impossible not to observe that there was to be seen in this luxury

an artistic quality which had never before existed. The finest edifices

of that period form a special style, which after temporary neglect is

now beginning to be imitated; the creator of this style in Russia was

Count Rastrelli--a foreigner, of whom, however, Russia has the right to

speak. The palaces and churches built by Rastrelli merit description, and

although painting at that time did not represent a very high standard,

yet the ceilings painted in accordance with the fashion of the day,

with bouquets of flowers and mythological goddesses, even now attract

the attention of artists. The grandees gave high prices for pictures by

foreign masters; their houses became distinguished not only for their

handsome façades but also for the comfort of their interior arrangements;

it would hardly be possible, for instance, to imagine anything more nobly

elegant than the house of the chancellor Vorontzov (now the _corps des

Pages_).

All these beautiful architectural productions, and likewise those of

music and painting, were for the greater part the work of foreign

artists--visitors to Russia; but under their influence Russian artists

were formed and taste developed. The church of Nicholas Morskoi was built

by a pupil of Rastrelli. The almost daily theatrical representations

produced at court gave rise to the idea of organising similar

representations at the _corps des Cadets_. The empress took a lively

interest in them; she often assisted at them and lent her diamonds for

the women’s costumes. In their turn these representations could not but

assist the development of a taste for the stage, for dramatic art and

literature in general and from amongst the number of cadet actors not a

few became well known writers, as for instance Beketov, Kheraskov, and

Sumarokov.

We must dwell for a few moments on Sumarokov--a man who in his time

enjoyed an extensive literary reputation and secured for himself the

appellation of Father of the Russian Stage. The love of literature, and

especially of the stage, was already developed in Sumarokov when he

was in the corps des Cadets; when he was afterwards made aide-de-camp

to Razumovski, he could almost daily assist at operas and ballets. At

that period he read with avidity the dramatic authors then in fashion:

Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, and Molière became his idols; he decided to

try to imitate them in his own native language then very undeveloped, and

in 1747 he wrote a tragedy, the _Chorists_.

It was not the merits of this work, which were very insignificant, but

the unwontedness of the appearance of an original Russian tragedy, and

besides that the fact of its being in verse, that so astounded and

enraptured his contemporaries that they proclaimed Sumarokov the “Russian

Racine”; encouraged by such a success he wrote a second and yet, a third

tragedy; he took up comedy (for which he had hardly any more vocation)

and in fact wrote a whole repertory; there were, however, no actors;

because neither in St. Petersburg nor in Moscow did there any longer

exist such company and such theatres as were begun in the time of Peter.

Meanwhile, far away from both capitals, in Iaroslav there was formed,

almost of itself without any commands or even any encouragement being

given, a Russian dramatic company which is indissolubly bound up with the

name of Volkov. Theodore Volkov was the son of a merchant and had been

educated in the Iaroslav seminary, where, following the example of the

Academy of Kiev, and others, representations of a spiritual or religious

character were given. They produced a great impression upon the young

merchant; when later on he managed to get to St. Petersburg and saw on

the stage of the corps des Cadets a dramatic representation given with

scenery, lighting, and mechanical contrivances, Volkov was stupefied with

rapture and astonishment. Being to the highest degree sensitive to every

artistic impression, being a painter, a musician, and a sculptor--all

self-taught--Volkov was also endued with that constancy and patience

without which even gifted natures do not attain to any results. Volkov

studied the material side of scenic art to the smallest details--that is,

the arrangement of the machinery, of the scenes, etc.; when he returned

to Iaroslav he asked his parents, with whom he lived, to let him have an

empty tanner’s shed; there he arranged a pit and a stage, and making up

a company of young merchants like himself, sons of citizens and clerks,

gave representations which aroused the enthusiasm of all the spectators.

The intelligent and practical Volkov, seeing how the population of

Iaroslav flocked to his representations, named a price for them--a five

kopeck piece for the first rows--and thus little by little he amassed a

sum with which in 1752 he was able to build a general public theatre with

room for one thousand spectators.

The taste for the stage had meanwhile greatly spread in St. Petersburg;

in various private houses dramatic representations were given at evening

parties; it was therefore not surprising that the Iaroslav theatre

soon began to be talked of. The empress invited Volkov to come to St.

Petersburg with his company, as she wished to see his representations

given on the stage of the court theatre. She was remarkably pleased

with them, and four years later issued an ukase for the establishment

of a public theatre. The first director of this theatre and almost

the only dramatic writer was Sumarokov; according to the testimony of

contemporaries Volkov was one of its most talented actors and his friend

and fellow worker Dmitrievski a great artist.

We must here speak of another still more remarkable Russian native

genius--Lomonosov. It is well known how, when he was a youth of sixteen,

devoured by a thirst for knowledge, he secretly left the paternal roof

and made his way on foot from Kholmogori to Moscow. How unattractive must

life and learning have appeared to him in those early days! “Having only

one altyn (a three-kopeck piece) a day for salary, it was impossible

for him to spend more on food than a halfpenny a day for bread and a

halfpenny worth of _kvass_ (a kind of beer or mead); the rest had to

go for paper, books, and other necessities.” Thus he described his

life in the Zaikonospaskvi Ecclesiastical Academy to Ivan Shuvalov and

concluded with the following words: “I lived thus for five years and

did not abandon science!” Theodore Prokopovitch, when he was already

an old man, visited the Moscow academy a few years before his death;

he noticed Lomonosov there and praised him for his laboriousness and

learning. In 1737 Lomonosov was sent abroad to perfect himself and

placed himself under the surveillance of the then famous scholar, Wolff,

who, while despising him for his disorderly life, spoke with respect of

his capacities and success in study. Lomonosov followed the lectures

of the German professors and amused himself with the German students.

The news of Minikh’s great victories and the taking of Khotin reached

him; his patriotic feelings were aroused, and he wrote an ode. When the

verses were received in St. Petersburg everyone was struck with their

harmony; and when Lomonosov returned from Germany in the beginning of

Elizabeth’s reign his reputation as a poet had already preceded him--the

more he wrote the greater his fame became. Poetry, however, was not

Lomonosov’s strongest point, and verses do not occupy a quarter of his

entire works. His mind worked even more than his imagination, and his

scholarly writings are striking in their variety. He composed a grammar

of the Russian language from which several generations have learned;

he laid down rules of versification, the foundation of which are even

now recognised by everyone; he wrote on chemistry, physics, astronomy,

metallurgy, geology; he composed a Russian history, wrote a hypothesis

concerning the great learned expeditions and memoranda bearing on

questions of the state (as for instance measures for increasing and

maintaining the population in Russia): in fact, Lomonosov’s extraordinary

intellect seemed to touch upon every branch of mental activity. He was

made a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, but there the

German element reigned supreme and Lomonosov was one of those who,

while venerating the work of Peter the Great and the European learning

introduced by him, yet was oppressed by foreign tutorage and took offence

when the Germans put forward their own countrymen to the detriment of

meritorious Russians. Continual disputes and quarrels arose between

Lomonosov and his fellow members; nor, being of a very impetuous and

obstinate nature, was Lomonosov always in the right. His rough and sharp

measures frequently led him into quarrels even outside the academy, for

instance with his literary brethren, Frediakovski and Sumarokov. All

this might greatly have injured Lomonosov, but fortunately for him he

possessed powerful protectors in the persons of Count Worontzov and Count

Razumovski, who liked to show favour to the first Russian scholar and

poet.

But the strongest, truest, and most constant of his protectors was Ivan

Shuvalov. Shuvalov had many defects--his character was weak, lazy, and

careless; but he nevertheless represented one of the most consolatory

types of his epoch: strong, energetic types were not uncommon in the

first half of the eighteenth century, but gentle, benevolent, indulgent

natures were rarely to be met with. Shuvalov was not captivated by

clamorous deeds, like the men of Peter’s time, but by the peaceful

progress of science and art. Therefore if the weakness of his character

made him an instrument for the ambitious designs of his cousin, his

heartfelt sympathies drew him towards Lomonosov, of whom he naturally

learned much and--what is of more importance--with whom he devised means

for the spread of education in Russia. The result of these deliberations

was a vast plan for the establishment of schools throughout the

governments, and finally of a university in Moscow. The establishment

of a university seemed of the first necessity, as it was to furnish

Russia with teachers; this had been Peter’s intention with regard to the

academy: but it had not been fulfilled. In his report to the senate upon

this subject, Shuvalov wrote that it would be desirable to appoint a

“sufficient number of worthy men of the Russian nationality, acquainted

with the sciences, to spread education in distant parts among the common

people, so that thus superstition, dissent, and other like heresies

proceeding from ignorance might be destroyed.” The senate approved

Shuvalov’s proposition and in 1755 the University of Moscow was founded.

We have given as just and complete a picture of the period of the

empress Elizabeth as is possible in view of the scarcity of information

obtainable concerning many circumstances of that time. Elizabeth left

behind her if not a great memory yet, broadly speaking, a good one. Her

administration may be reproached with much: in its foreign policy it

was not sufficiently independent; it was not sufficiently watchful in

interior affairs, where oversights occasioned special evils; moreover

examples of unlawful enrichment attained huge dimensions. But her reign

may be said to have led Russia out of bondage to the Germans, while the

level of education was not in the smallest degree lowered, but on the

contrary considerably raised. Much that brought forth such brilliant

fruits under Catherine II was sown under Elizabeth.[d]

_Bain’s Estimate of Elizabeth_

It is the peculiar glory of Elizabeth Petrovna that she consulted once

for all the life work of her illustrious father. During the first

fifteen years after the death of the great political regenerator, his

stupendous creation, Russia, (before him we only hear of Muscovy,) was

frequently in danger. The reactionary boyars who misruled the infant

empire under Peter II would have sacrificed both the new capital and the

new fleet, the twin pivots upon which the glory and the prosperity of the

new state may be said to have turned; the German domination under the

empress Anna, directly contrary as it was to the golden rule of Peter,

“Russia for the Russians,” threatened the nation with a western yoke

far more galling than the eastern or Tatar yoke of ruder times. From

this reaction, from this yoke the daughter of Peter the Great set the

nation free, and beneath her beneficent sceptre Russia may be said to

have possessed itself again. All the highest offices of state were once

more entrusted to natives and to natives only, and whenever a foreigner

was proposed for the next highest, Elizabeth, before confirming the

appointment, invariably inquired: “Is there then no capable Russian who

would do as well?” Moreover she inherited from her father the sovereign

gift of choosing and using able councillors, and not only did she summon

to power a new generation of native statesmen and administrators, but

she constrained them to work harmoniously together despite their mutual

jealousies and conflicting ambitions. She herself had advantageously

passed through the bitter but salutary school of adversity. With all

manner of dangers haunting her path from her youth upwards, she had

learnt the necessity of circumspection, deliberation, self-control;

she had acquired the precious faculty of living in the midst of people

intent on jostling each other, without in any way jostling them; and

these great qualities she brought with her to the throne without losing

anything of that infinite good-nature, that radiant affability, that

patriarchal simplicity which so endeared her to her subjects and made

her, deservedly, the most popular of all the Russian monarchs. As regards

her foreign policy, it may be safely affirmed she laid down the deep and

durable foundations upon which Catherine II was to build magnificently

indeed, but too often, alas! so flimsily. The diplomacy of Elizabeth,

on the whole, was not so confident or so daring as the diplomacy of her

brilliant successor; but, on the other hand, it was more correct, equally

dignified and left far less to chance. It must also be borne in mind that

the energy and firmness of Elizabeth considerably facilitated the task

of Catherine by rendering Prussia, Russia’s most dangerous neighbour,

practically harmless to her for the remainder of the century. This of

itself was a political legacy of inestimable value, and it was not the

only one. All the great captains, all the great diplomatists of the “ever

victorious Catherine,” men like Rumiantsev, Suvarov, Riepnin, Besborodko,

the Panins and the Galitzins, were brought up in the school of Elizabeth.

Excellent was the use which the adroit and audacious Catherine made of

these instruments of government, these pioneers of empire, but it should

never be forgotten that she received them all from the hands of the

daughter of Peter the Great.[g]

PETER III (1762 A.D.)

As Elizabeth, on her death-bed, had confirmed the rights of Peter

III; and as the conspirators, deprived of Bestuzhev their guide, were

unable to act with energy, the new emperor encountered no opposition.

On the contrary, he was immediately recognised by the military; and the

archbishop of Novgorod, in the sermon preached on the occasion, thanked

heaven that a prince so likely to imitate his illustrious grandfather was

vouchsafed to Russia. Catherine was present. She wore a peculiar dress to

conceal her pregnancy, and her countenance exhibited some indication of

the anxious feeling which she was obliged to repress. Compelled to defer

the execution of her ambitious purposes, and uncertain what vengeance

the czar might exert for her numerous infidelities, she might well be

apprehensive.

But she had no real foundation for the fear. Of all the sovereigns of

that or any age, Peter was among the most clement. Whether he thought

that clemency might bind to his interests one whose talents he had

learned to respect, or that her adherents were too numerous and powerful

to allow of her being punished--whether, in short, he had some return of

affection for her, or his own conscience told him that she had nearly as

much to forgive as he could have, we will not decide. One thing only is

certain--that, in about three months after his accession, he invested

her with the domains held by the late empress. Certainly his was a mind

incapable of long continued resentment. His heart was better than his

head. Resolved to signalise his elevation by making others happy, he

recalled all whom his predecessor had exiled, except Bestuzhev. Many he

restored to their former honours and possessions. Thus the aged Munich

was made governor-general of Siberia, restored to his military command;

while Biron, who certainly deserved no favour, was reinvested with the

duchy of Courland. He did more: he restored the prisoners made by the

generals of Elizabeth, and gave them money to defray their passage home.

And, as Frederick had always been the object of his idolatry, the world

expected the armistice which he published, and which was preparatory to a

peace between the two countries.

That declaration was an extraordinary document. In it the emperor

declares that, his first duty being the welfare of his people, that

welfare could not be consulted so long as hostilities were continued;

that the war, which had raged six years, had produced no advantage to

either party, but done incredible harm to both; that he would no longer

sanction the wanton destruction of his species; that, in conformity

with the divine injunction relative to the preservation of the people

committed to his charge, he would put an end to the unnatural, impious

strife; and that he was resolved to restore the conquests made by his

troops. In this case he had been praised, and with great justice, for

his moderation. We fear, however, he does not merit so high a degree of

praise of humanity as many writers have asserted. At this moment, while

proclaiming so loudly his repugnance to war, he was sending troops into

his native principality of Holstein, with the intention of wresting from

the king of Denmark the duchy of Schleswig, which he considered the

rightful inheritance of his family. He even declared that he would never

rest until he had sent that prince to Malabar.

[Illustration: PETER III

(1728-1762)]

Nor must we omit to add that from the enemy he became the ally of

Frederick; that his troops joined with the Prussians to expel the

Austrians from the kingdom. His humanity only changed sides; if it spared

the blood of Prussians, it had little respect for that of Austrians. We

may add, too, that there was something like madness in his enthusiastic

regard for Frederick. He corresponded with that monarch, whom he

proclaimed his master, whose uniform he wore, and in whose armies he

obtained the rank of major-general. Had he been capable of improvement,

his intercourse with that far-sighted prince might have benefited him.

Frederick advised him to celebrate at Moscow his coronation--a rite of

superstitious importance in the eyes of the multitude. He was advised,

too, not to engage in the Danish war, not to leave the empire. But advice

was lost on him.

In some other respects, Peter deserves more credit than the admirers

of Catherine are willing to allow him. (1) Not only did he pardon his

personal enemies--not only did the emperor forget the wrongs of the grand

duke--but on several he bestowed the most signal favours. He suppressed

that abominable inquisitorial court, the secret chancery, which had

consigned so many victims to everlasting bondage, which had received

delations from the most obscure and vicious of men, which had made every

respectable master of a family tremble lest his very domestics should

render him amenable to that terrible tribunal. Had this been the only

benefit of his reign, well would he have been entitled to the gratitude

of Russia. (2) He emancipated the nobles from the slavish dependence

on the crown, so characteristic of that barbarous people. Previous to

his reign, no boyar could enter on any profession, or forsake it when

once embraced, or retire from public to private life, or dispose of his

property, or travel into any foreign country, without the permission of

the czar. By breaking their chains at one blow, he began the career of

social emancipation. (3) The military discipline of the nation loudly

demanded reform, and he obeyed the call. He rescued the officers from the

degrading punishments previously inflicted; he introduced a better system

of tactics; and he gave more independence to the profession. He did not,

however, exempt the common soldier from the corporal punishment which

at any moment his superior officers might inflict. (4) He instituted a

useful court to take cognisance of all offences committed against the

public peace, and to chastise the delinquencies of the men entrusted

with the general police of the empire. (5) He encouraged commerce, by

lessening the duties on certain imports, and by abolishing them on

certain exports. (6) In all his measures, all his steps, he proved

himself the protector of the poor. In fact, one reason for the dislike

with which he was regarded by the nobles arose from the preference which

he always gave to the low over the high.

_Impolitic Acts of Peter III_

But if impartial history must thus eulogise many of this monarch’s

acts, the same authority must condemn more. He exhibited everywhere

great contempt for the people whom he was called to govern. He had no

indulgence for their prejudices, however indifferent, however inveterate.

Thus, in commanding that the secular clergy should no longer wear long

beards, and should wear the same garb as the clergy of other countries,

he offended his subjects to a degree almost inconceivable to us. In

ordering the images to be removed from the churches--he was still a

Lutheran, if anything--he did not lessen the odium which his other acts

had produced. The archbishop of Novgorod flatly refused to obey him, and

was in consequence exiled; but the murmurs of the populace compelled the

czar to recall him. Still more censurable were his efforts to render

the church wholly dependent on the state--to destroy everything like

independence in its ministers; to make religion a mere engine in the

hands of arbitrary power for the attainment of any object. His purpose,

in fact, was to seize all the demesnes of the church--its extensive

estates, its numerous serfs--and to pension the clergy like other

functionaries.

In the ukase published on this occasion, he expressed a desire to

relieve ecclesiastics of the temporal cares so prejudicial to their

ghostly utility; to see that they indeed renounced the world, and free

from the burden of perishing treasures, applied their whole attention

to the welfare of souls. He therefore decreed that the property of the

church should in future be managed by imperial officers; and that the

clergy should receive, from the fund thus accumulated, certain annual

pensions, corresponding to their stations. Thus the archbishops of

Novgorod, Moscow, and St. Petersburg were to have each 2,500 rubles; and

the same sum was to be allowed for the support of their households, of

their capitular clergy, and for the sustentation of the sacred edifices.

But the twenty-three other archbishops and bishops were to have only

3,000 rubles for both purposes. The salaries of the other ecclesiastics

were carefully graduated. The inferior were divided into three

classes--individuals of the first to receive 500, of the second 300, of

the third 150 rubles per annum. The surplus funds were to be applied to

the foundation of hospitals, to the endowment of colleges, and to the

general purposes of the state.

Peter attempted these and other innovations in virtue of the two-fold

character which, from the time of his grandfather, the czars had been

anxious to assume, as supreme heads alike of religion and of the state.

Not even the grand lama of Thibet ever arrogated a higher degree of

theocratic authority. Indeed, our only surprise is that in addition to

their other functions they did not assume that of bishops; that they did

not array themselves in pontificals, and celebrate mass at the altar. But

they certainly laid something like a claim to the sacerdotal character.

Thus, on the death of the patriarch, Peter I opposed the election of

another supreme head of the church; and when he found that the synod

durst not venture on so far irritating the people as to dispense with

the dignity, he insisted on being elected himself. If the sultan of

Constantinople combined with himself the two-fold character, why should

it be refused to him? The reign of Peter was too short to permit his

designs of spoliation to be carried into effect; but, by confirming

the dangerous precedent of his grandfather, he had done enough, and

his successor Catherine was enabled to complete the robbery which he

commenced.

But the most impolitic measure of Peter--that which rendered those who

might have defended him indifferent to his fate--was his conduct towards

the imperial guards. Two regiments he ordered to be in readiness for

the Danish war. This was contrary to custom. In the faith of remaining

near the court, most of the soldiers had embraced the military life; and

they were as indignant as they were surprised when told that they must

exchange the dissipations of a metropolis for the fatigues and privations

attending a distant campaign. They were offended, too, with the

introduction of the Prussian discipline, which they found by experience

to be far more rigid than that to which they had hitherto been subject;

and they patriotically condemned the innovation as prejudicial to the

military fame of the empire. Still more irritating was the preference

which he everywhere gave to the German over the native troops. His most

intimate friends were Germans; the officers around his person were of the

same nation; Germans directed the manœuvres not only of his household

but of all his regiments; and a German--Prince George of Holstein, his

uncle--was placed at the head of all the imperial armies.

Couple these acts of imprudence with others of which he was hourly

guilty. In his palace of Oranienbaum he constructed a Lutheran chapel;

and though he appears to have been indifferent to every form of religion,

he held this in much more respect than the Greek form, which in fact,

he delighted to ridicule. If churchmen became his enemies, the people

in general were not likely to become his friends when they heard of a

boast--probably a true one--that in the last war he had acquainted the

Prussian monarch with the secrets of the imperial cabinet. Lastly, he

insulted men of honour by making them the jest of his buffoons.

Circumstances much less numerous and much less cogent than these would

have sufficed so ambitious, able, and unprincipled a woman as Catherine

to organise a powerful conspiracy against the czar. But he was accused

of many other things of which he was perfectly innocent. In fact, no

effort seems to have been spared to invent and propagate stories to his

disadvantage. In some instances, it is scarcely possible to separate

the true from the false. Whether, for example, he, from the day of his

accession, resolved to divorce his wife, to marry his mistress, to set

aside Paul from succession, and to adopt Ivan, still confined in the

fortress of Schlüsselburg, can never be known with certainty. That he

secretly visited that unhappy prince seems undoubted; but we have little

evidence for the existence of the design attributed to him. If, in fact,

he sincerely contemplated raising the daughter of Count Vorontzov to the

imperial throne, he would scarcely have adopted Ivan, unless he felt

assured that no issue would arise from the second marriage. He could

not, however, entertain any regard for a consort who had so grievously

injured him, and little for a boy whom he knew was not his own. And, as

there is generally some foundation for every report, there seems to be no

doubt that Peter had promised to marry his mistress if she survived his

wife. The report was enough for Catherine: on it she built her own story

that her life was in danger; and that if her son were not designed for a

similar fate, he would at least have that of Ivan.

_Catherine Plots against the Czar_

The anxiety of the empress to secure adherents was continually active;

and as her husband passed so much time in drunkenness, her motions were

not so closely scrutinised as they should have been. Gregory Orlov, her

criminal favourite, was the man in whom she placed the most reliance.

Gregory had four brothers--all men of enterprise, of courage, of

desperation; and none of them restricted by the least moral principle.

Potemkin, afterwards so celebrated, was the sixth. This man was, perhaps,

the most useful of the conspirators, as by means of his acquaintance

with the priests of the metropolis he was able to enlist that formidable

body in the cause. They were not slow to proclaim the impiety of the

czar, his contempt of the orthodox faith, his resolution “to banish

the fear of the Lord” from the Russian court, to convert churches into

hospitals and barracks, to seize on all revenues of the church, and

to end by compelling the most orthodox of countries to embrace the

errors of Luther. The archimandrites received these reports from the

parish priests, the bishops from the archimandrites; nor was there much

difficulty in obtaining an entrance for them into the recesses of the

neighbouring monasteries. The hetman of the Cossacks, an officer of

great authority and of great riches, was next gained. Not less effectual

than he was the princess Dashkov, who, though the sister of Peter’s

mistress, was the most ardent of the conspirators: perhaps the threatened

exaltation of that sister, by rendering her jealous, only strengthened

her attachment to the czarina. Through the instrumentality of this woman,

Count Panin, the foreign minister and the governor of the grand duke

Paul, was gained over. Whether the argument employed was, as one writer

asserts, the sacrifice of her sister, or whether, as another affirms, she

was the daughter of the count, who notoriously intrigued with her mother,

is of no moment. What is certain is, that the count was exceedingly fond

of her; and one authority expressly asserts that he became acquainted

with the details of the conspiracy before her, and admitted her into the

plot. This, however, is less probable than the relation we have given;

for the princess had long been the friend of Catherine.

Her activity was unceasing. A Piedmontese adventurer, Odart by name,

being forced to leave his native country for some crime, and having

tried in vain to obtain a subsistence in the neighbouring capitals,

wisely resolved to try his fortune in St. Petersburg--a city where guilt

might reside with impunity, and where it had only to be successful to

win the applause of mankind. As he had a considerable knowledge of the

fine arts, especially of music and painting, he had little difficulty in

obtaining an introduction to the princess Dashkov. She, who had a shrewd

insight into human character, soon perceived that this supple, crafty,

active, sober, intriguing, unprincipled foreigner was just the man that

was required to act as spy and confidential agent. He was introduced

to Catherine, whose opinion confirmed that of her favourite. No choice

could, indeed, have been better. Little cared he in what service he

was employed. If a partisan were to be gained, no man could be more

insinuating: if an enemy were to be removed, he had his pistols and his

dirk, without which he never appeared in the street. His penetration soon

enabled him to secure the aid of two other bravos--the one, Possik, a

lieutenant in the guards; the other, Globov, a lawyer in the employment

of the senate. Of the character of these men, some notion may be formed

from the fact that Possik offered to stab the emperor in the midst of the

court. He knew how to ally duplicity with desperation; he was at once the

hypocritical intriguer and the remorseless bravo.

Through the same Princess Dashkov, Volkonski, major-general of the

guards, was won; and by Potemkin, or his ghostly allies, the archbishop

of Novgorod was soon in the secret. The hetman of the Cossacks went

further. Great as was the danger of entrusting that secret to many,

he assembled the officers who served under him, assured them that he

had heard of a conspiracy to dethrone the emperor, too irresistible

to be appeased; and exhorted them to seize the favourable moment of

propitiating the favour of the czarina, rather than, by remaining hostile

or inactive, to bring down vengeance on their own heads. His advice had

all the success that he could desire.

While these most vicious and in every way most worthless of men were

thus employed in her behalf, Catherine was no less active. She knew that

Count Panin espoused the cause of her son--less, perhaps, from affection

to his charge, than from the hope of exercising more power under an

infant emperor than under one of the mother’s enterprising character.

Her promise, that his influence should be second only to her own, made

him her willing instrument. His defection constrained the rest of the

conspirators: there was no more heard of a regency; and Catherine was to

be proclaimed autocratrix of all the Russias.

Without increasing unnecessarily the number of the initiated, she yet

prepared the minds of many for some impending change, and rendered them

eager for its arrival by her artful and seasonable insinuations. If an

officer of the guards stood near her, she whispered in his ear that the

emperor had resolved on disbanding the present force, and exiling its

chiefs; if an ecclesiastic, she bewailed the fate of the pure orthodox

church; if a less interested person, she lamented her own misfortunes

and those of her son--both doomed to immediate imprisonment, and she, at

least, to an ultimate death. If a senator were near, she deplored the

meditated destruction of the venerable and patriotic body to which he

belonged; the transformation of the debauchees, perpetually around the

emperor, into judges; and the substitution of the _Code Frederic_ for the

ancient law of Russia.

By these means she prepared the minds of the people for the revolution:

her affability, in fact, was the theme of their praise. But she did not

trust merely to their good will. She knew that, unless two or three

regiments were secured, the insurrection might not find immediate

supporters, and that the critical moment might be lost. Without

money this object could not be obtained; and though both she and her

confidential agents voluntarily disbursed all that they could command,

and converted their most valuable effects into coin, the amount was

alarmingly inadequate. In this emergency she applied to the French

ambassador for a loan; and when he showed less readiness to accommodate

her than she expected, she addressed herself, we are told, to the

ambassador from England, and with more success. But this statement is

untrue: it was not the English ambassador, but an English merchant, who

furnished her with the sum she demanded. With this aid, she prevailed on

the greater part of three regiments to await the signal for joining her.

Though the conspirators were, in point of numbers, formidable, their

attempt was one of danger. Peter was about to leave Russia for Holstein,

to prosecute the war against the Danish king; and of the troops whom he

had assembled, though the greater part were on their march, some were

now with him, and might be induced to defend him. Besides, the two great

divisions of his fleet were at Kronstadt and Revel, and nobody could

foresee how they would act. The conspirators agreed that he should be

taken by surprise; that midnight should see him transferred from the

throne to a dungeon. The festival of St. Peter and St. Paul--one of high

importance in the Greek church--was approaching: the following day the

emperor had resolved to depart. It was to be celebrated at Peterhov;

there it was resolved to arrest him.

But accident hastened the execution of the plot. Until the arrival of

the festival, Peter left St. Petersburg for Oranienbaum, to pass in riot

and debauchery the intervening time. Accompanied by the most dissolute

of his favourites, and by many of the court ladies, he anticipated the

excesses which awaited his arrival. That he had received some hints of a

plot, though he was unacquainted alike with its object and authors, is

exceedingly probable. His royal ally of Prussia is said to have advised

him to be on his guard, and several notes are supposed to have been

addressed to him by his own subjects. If such information was received,

it made no impression on him; and indeed its vagueness might well render

him indifferent to it. But on the eve of his departure, when the superior

officer of Passik, who had accidentally learned that danger attended

the steps of the emperor, denounced the lieutenant, and the culprit was

arrested, he had an opportunity of ascertaining all the details of the

conspiracy. He treated the denunciation with contempt; affirmed that

Passik belonged to the dregs of the people, and was not to be dreaded;

and proceeded to Oranienbaum. The culprit, though narrowly watched, had

time to write a line to the hetman, whom he exhorted to instant action,

if they wished to save their lives. The note fell into the hands of the

princess Dashkov, who immediately assembled the conspirators.

Not a moment was to be lost: the presence of Catherine was indispensable;

and, though it was midnight and she was at Peterhov, seven leagues

distant from St. Petersburg, one of the Orlovs went to bring her.

He arrived at the fortress, entered a private door, and by a secret

staircase ascended to the apartments occupied by the empress. It was now

two o’clock in the morning: the empress was asleep; and her surprise was

not unmixed with terror, when she was awakened by a soldier. In a moment

she comprehended her situation: she arose, called one of her women, and

both, being hastily clad in a strange habit, descended with the soldier

to one of the gates, passed the sentinel without being recognised, and

stepped into the carriage which was waiting for her. Orlov was the

driver, and he urged the horses with so much severity that before they

had proceeded half way from Peterhov to St. Petersburg, they fell down

from exhaustion. The situation of the empress was critical: she might at

any moment be overtaken; and she was certain that with the dawn of day

Peter would acquire some more definite intelligence of the plot. In a

state bordering on distraction, she took refuge in the first house that

she approached: it was a tavern, and here she burned the letters which

had passed between her and the conspirators. Again she recommenced her

journey on foot: by good fortune she met a countryman with a cart; Orlov

seized the vehicle, the peasant ran away; Catherine ascended it, and, in

this undignified manner, she, her woman, and Orlov entered St. Petersburg

about seven o’clock on the morning of July the 9th.

_Catherine Usurps the Crown_

No sooner was Catherine in the capital than she was joined by the hetman;

and, accompanied by him, she hastened to the barracks of the troops which

he commanded. Four companies immediately declared for her; their example

constrained the rest of the regiment; three other regiments, hearing the

acclamation, and seeing the people hurry to the spot, joined in the cry;

all St. Petersburg was in motion; a report was spread that she and her

son had just escaped assassination by order of the czar; her adherents

rapidly multiplied: and, accompanied by about two thousand soldiers, with

five times that number of citizens, who loudly proclaimed her sovereign

of Russia, she went to the church of Our Lady of Kazan. Here everything

was prepared for her reception: the archbishop of Novgorod, with a host

of ecclesiastics, awaited her at the altar; she swore to observe the laws

and religion of the empire; the crown was solemnly placed on her head;

she was proclaimed sole monarch of Russia, and the grand duke Paul her

successor; and _Te Deum_ concluded the eventful ceremony.

From the church she proceeded to the palace occupied by the late empress;

the mob crowded to see her, and to take the oath of allegiance; while

the more respectable portion of the citizens were awed into submission,

or at least into silence, by a report that Peter had just been killed

by falling from his horse. To gratify the populace, the taverns were

abandoned to them: the same fate visited the houses of all who were

obnoxious to the conspirators; intoxication was general; robbery was

exercised with impunity; the palace, to which Catherine had hastened, was

strengthened; a numerous guard was stationed in its defence; a manifesto

was proclaimed; a notification was delivered into the hands of each

foreign minister, and the revolution was complete.

One object of the conspirators had been to close every avenue of egress

from the capital, that Peter might not be acquainted with the revolution

until it was too powerful to be repressed. All the troops in the vicinity

were called within the walls; but there was one regiment about sixteen

hundred strong, which lay between the city and Peterhov, the conduct of

which was doubtful. Without the slightest knowledge of what had taken

place, the colonel arrived in the city, and was soon persuaded not only

to declare for the new sovereign but to prevail on the regiment to follow

his example. He was successful; and, with the whole body, he returned in

triumph to the capital. On this very day Peter had promised to dine with

Catherine: on reaching Peterhov he was surprised to hear of her flight.

Vorontzov, the father of his mistress, the father also of the princess

Dashkov, who had witnessed without repugnance the dishonour alike of

his wife and daughter, proposed to the emperor to visit St. Petersburg

to ascertain the cause of her departure; and, if any insurrection were

meditated, to suppress it. He arrived in the presence of the empress, was

induced to swear allegiance to her, and was ordered to retire into his

own house.

But Peter had already been informed of the revolution; and he traversed

with hasty steps the gardens of Peterhov, indecisive and terrified. Yet

he was not wholly deserted. The brave Munich, whose locks were ripened

by age, and whose wisdom equalled his valour, advised him instantly

to place himself at the head of his Holstein troops, march on the

capital, and thereby enable all who were yet loyal to join him. Whether

the result would have been such as the veteran anticipated, _viz._ a

counter-revolution, may well be doubted; but there can be no doubt that

a considerable number of soldiers would have joined him, and that he

would have been able to enter into negotiations with the hostile party.

He was too timid to adopt the suggestion: nothing, in fact, could urge

him to decisive action. When informed that Catherine was making towards

Peterhov, at the head of ten thousand men, all that he could resolve to

do was to send messengers to her with proposals. His first was that the

supreme power should be divided between them; the second, when no reply

was deigned to his letter, that he should be allowed to leave Russia,

with his mistress and a favourite, and pass the rest of his days in

Holstein. She detained his messenger, and still advanced.

Munich now advised him to embark for Kronstadt, and join his fleet,

which was still faithful; but unfortunately he delayed so long that one

of Catherine’s emissaries had time to corrupt the garrison of the fort:

on arriving, he was prohibited from disembarking, and told that if he

did not immediately retire his vessel would be sunk by the cannon of the

place. Still he had a fleet at Revel; and if it were disloyal he might

escape into Prussia, Sweden, or Holstein. With the fatality, however,

which characterised all his measures on this eventful day, he returned

to Oranienbaum, where he disembarked at four o’clock in the morning of

July the 10th. Here he was soon visited by the emissaries of Catherine;

was persuaded to sign an act of abdication; was conducted to Peterhov;

was divested of all his imperial orders; was clad in a mean dress, and

consigned, first to one of the country houses of the hetman, and soon

afterwards to the fortress of Ropscha, about twenty miles distant from

Peterhov. He was not allowed to see the empress; and his mistress and

attendants were separated from him.[b]

_Death of Peter III (1762 A.D.)_

What was to be done with Peter? At the deliberations on this question

Catherine calmly listened to arguments as to the necessity of measures

being taken in order that the former emperor should not injure her rule

by disturbing weak minds; she clearly realised all the dangers that might

be created for her, if not by Peter himself at any rate by his partisans.

They were not numerous, yet they did exist and they might multiply in the

future. It was necessary that Peter should be definitively made harmless,

but how was it to be done? During the deliberations on the means to be

taken, no restraint was imposed by Catherine’s presence. The empress

was not an Elizabeth Petrovna: she at once understood the uselessness

of imprisonment at Schlüsselburg or any other place; she was not likely

to fall into a fainting fit at any proposition made. The examples of

Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great did not disturb her. Nevertheless,

not one of those present, not even the persons nearest to her, reading

in her eyes the secret desire decisively to finish once for all with

this unbearable question, would have dared even to hint at an unnatural

death--they knew Catherine, they might read her thought, but not aloud.

When the persons who surrounded Catherine were definitively convinced

that Peter’s removal was recognised by her as indispensable, they decided

to devise a means for it without her knowledge and to accomplish it

without her consent. In this were interested all the personal partisans

of Catherine, those “chosen sons of the people,” who had stirred up the

empress to put herself at the head of the movement. They were far more

interested in the matter than Catherine herself: the change had been

brought about by all classes of society, by the whole nation, not by her;

no one could even think of the detested Peter ascending the throne a

second time--it was not on Catherine that the malcontents would revenge

themselves, that is if there were or would be any, but on the “chosen

of the people.” Peter did not prevent a change being brought about;

still, he might hinder not Catherine but many of the “chosen ones” from

reaping the fruits of their labours. The Orlov brothers were above all

interested in the matter; all of them, and especially Gregory, occupied

important posts, which gave them the right to dream of great things; the

realisation of these dreams could, it seemed to them, be prevented only

by Peter’s perpetual imprisonment. As long as Peter lived, Catherine

was not free: it was now observed by everyone that in the manifesto of

the 28th of June Peter was not once called the consort, the husband of

Catherine; but such bonds imposed by the church are not broken either by

manifestoes or imprisonment: Peter living, by the one fact of his being

alive, prevented the Orlovs from attaining the final results of their

efforts, their sacrifices. No matter by what means, somehow the Orlovs

must guard not merely what was as yet only possible and cherished in

their dreams, but the good fortune that had already been attained to;

and, for this, haste must be made. The favour shown to them, especially

to Gregory, was visible to every eye. At the court there were already

snares laid for them, intrigues began to be carried on against them,

endeavours were made to overthrow Gregory; if Gregory fell his brothers

would fall with him. Haste must be made.

On Wednesday, the 3rd of July, on the fourth day after the appearance of

the attacks of Peter’s illness, in the evening the doctor, Leyders, came

to Ropscha from St. Petersburg. On Thursday, the 4th of July, the former

emperor probably grew worse: at any rate a second doctor came that day

from St. Petersburg--the regimental surgeon Paulsen. The doctors did not

observe any change for the worse, and according to the expressions of the

language of contemporaries, the condition of the patient left nothing to

be desired. Friday passed quietly. On Saturday, the 6th of July, in the

morning while the prisoner was still asleep, the valet who attended on

Peter went out into the garden, “to breathe the fresh air.” An officer

who was in the garden ordered him to be seized and the valet was put into

a carriage which stood in readiness and removed from Ropscha. In the

evening, at six o’clock, a messenger who had ridden from Ropscha gave to

Catherine a packet from Alexis Orlov. On a sheet of soiled gray paper, in

the ignorant handwriting of Alexis Orlov and by his own drunken hand was

traced the following:

Merciful sovereign mother![52]

How can I explain, how describe what has happened; you will

not believe your faithful servant; but before God I speak the

truth. Matushka! I am ready to go to my death; but I myself

do not know, how this calamity happened. We are lost, if you

do not have mercy. Matushka, he is no more on earth. But no

one had thought of this, and how could we have thought to

raise our hands against the sovereign! But, your majesty, the

calamity is accomplished. At table he began to dispute with

Prince Theodore;[53] we were unable to separate them and he was

already no more; we do not ourselves remember what we did; but

we are all equally guilty and deserving of punishment. Have

mercy upon me, if it is only for my brother’s sake. I have

brought you my confession and seek for nothing. Forgive or

command that it may be quickly finished. The world is not kind;

we have angered you and destroyed our souls forever.

The news of death is a great matter. It is impossible either to prepare

for it or grow accustomed to it. In the present case the death of Peter,

doing away with many perplexities, and giving a free hand to many

persons, appeared as the only possible and most desirable issue to the

political drama which was agitating the people of Russia. Nevertheless

the news of this death struck some, disturbed others, and puzzled all as

an unexpected sudden phenomenon. On Catherine it produced the strongest

impression, and (justice must be rendered to her) she was the first to

control herself, to examine into the mass of new conditions, created by

the death of Peter, and to master the various feelings which made their

invasion together with the news of the catastrophe of Ropscha.

“_Que je suis affectée: même terrassée par cette mort_” (How affected

and even overwhelmed I am by this death), said Catherine to Princess

Dashkov. She was touched by it as a woman; she was struck by it as

empress. Catherine clearly recognised her position: the death of Peter,

a death that was so sudden, would at such a time awaken rumours, throw a

shadow on her intentions, lay a spot on the memory of those until then

clear, bright ten days; yet she did not hide from herself that it was

only by death that the great undertaking “begun by us” could be entirely

consummated. The tragedy of Catherine’s position was still further

increased by the circumstance of Alexis Orlov’s having taken an active

part in the catastrophe of Ropscha: she was under great obligations to

the Orlovs as empress, while as a woman she was bound by the ties of

affection to Gregory Orlov; she loathed the crime, but she could not give

up the criminal. “One must be firm in one’s resolutions,” said Catherine,

“only weak-minded people are undecided.” Even she herself, she must

conceal the crime and protect the criminal, taking upon herself all the

moral responsibility and political burden of the catastrophe. Catherine

then for the first time showed a healthy political understanding of the

widest diapason and played the rôle she had taken upon herself with the

talent of a virtuoso.

The letter of Alexis Orlov, which entirely exculpated her from all

suspicion was hidden in a cupboard, where it lay for thirty-four years,

until the very death of the empress. With the exception of two or three

persons in the immediate entourage of Catherine, who were near her at the

moment when the letter was received besides Nikita Panin and the hetman

Razumovski, no one ever read it, no one knew of it while the empress

lived. Having decided upon the fate of the letter, she herself marked

out the programme of her actions clearly and shortly: “_Il faut marcher

droit; je ne dois pas être suspecte_.” (I must walk uprightly; I must not

be suspected.)

The programme was exactly fulfilled. The letter of Alexis Orlov did not

communicate the trifling details of the catastrophe, but the general

signification of the narrative did not leave any doubts as to its chief

features, and therefore Catherine considered it first of all necessary

to certify whether poison had been employed; the postmortem examination,

made by order of the empress, did not show the least trace of poison.

Neither the medical certificate as to the cause of death nor the act

of death has been preserved; we can only guess that these certificates

directed the composition of the following “mourning” manifesto:

On the seventh day after our acceptation of the throne of all

the Russias, we received the news that the former emperor

Peter III, by an attack of hemorrhage which was common and

previously frequent to him, had fallen into a most dangerous

condition. In order therefore not to neglect our Christian duty

and the sacred command, by which we are obliged to preserve the

life of our neighbour, we immediately ordered that everything

necessary should be sent to him in order to avert consequences

that might be dangerous to his health through this mischance,

and tend to assist to his speedy recovery. But to our extreme

grief and trouble of heart, we yesterday evening received news

that, by the will of God, he had departed this life. We have

therefore commanded that his body should be taken to the Nevski

monastery to be there interred; meanwhile we incite and exhort

all our true and faithful subjects by our imperial and maternal

word that, without evil remembrance of all that is past, they

should raise to God their heartfelt prayers that forgiveness

and salvation of his soul may be granted to the deceased;

this unexpected decree by God of his death we accept as a

manifestation of the divine providence through which God in

his inscrutable judgment lays the path, known to his holy will

alone, to our throne and to the entire fatherland. Given at St.

Petersburg on the 7th day of July, 1762.

CATHERINE.

The Russian made the sign of the cross as he read this manifesto. Yes,

the judgments of God are indeed inscrutable! The former emperor had

experienced in his last days so many sorrows, so many reverses--no wonder

his feeble, sickly nature, which had already suffered from attacks of

hemorrhage, would not withstand these shocks; in the matter of death

nobody is free: he had fallen ill and died. To the common people his

death appeared natural; even the upper classes, although they might

hear even if they did not know something, did not admit any thoughts of

Catherine’s having had any share in his death. The empress “must not be

suspected” and she remained unsuspected. On the night between Sunday,

the 7th of July, and Monday, the 8th, the body was brought straight

to St. Petersburg, directly to the present monastery of St. Alexander

Nevski to the same place where the body of the princess Anna of Brunswick

was exposed for reverence, and later on the body of the princess Anna

Petrovna, Catherine’s daughter.[e]

FOOTNOTES

[49] It is said that when the infant Ivan heard the shouts of the

soldiers in front of the palace, he endeavoured to imitate their

vociferations, when Elizabeth exclaimed, “Poor babe! thou knowest not

that thou art joining in the noise that is raised at thy undoing.”

[50] The mother died in childbed, 1746; the father survived until 1780.

[51] She is said to have been privately married to a singer; but this is

doubtful. What is certain is that her lovers were as numerous after as

before the alleged union.

[52] The exact expression in Russian is _Matushka_ (little mother), a

title of endearment given by the people to the sovereign.

[53] Prince Theodore Sergeivitch Bariatinski.

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