THE LECTURE ON RUSSIA.
On the day after the arrival of the squadron at Cronstadt, when the
usual recitations of the day had been completed, all hands were
summoned to the steerage of the ship to listen to the preliminary
lecture on Russia. As the students knew less of this vast country than
of most of the others of Europe, they were more interested in the
exercise than usual. Mr. Mapps had a large map of Russia in Europe
suspended to the foremast, upon which he had drawn the railroads
completed up to that time, and made such other additions as the recent
changes in the country demanded.
"Russia is probably the largest empire, territorially, that exists now,
or ever has existed," the professor began.
"Can you tell us how to pronounce the name?" asked Commodore Lincoln.
"I do not speak Russian, but Professor Badois does, and I have asked
him to give us the name in Russian characters or letters," replied Mr.
Mapps, pointing to a large sheet of printing paper, upon which this
name and certain statistics were written. "Here it is--РОССІЯ."
"That R is backward," suggested the commodore.
"No," interposed the professor of languages; "that letter has the
value of ya in English. The first letter is the same as the English R;
the C's have the value of S, and the I sounds like long E. In Russian
the name is pronounced as though it were spelled _Ro-see´-ya_."
"It looks like _poke ear_," laughed Scott.
"You will not be able to read even a word of Russian, the letters are
so different from ours," added Mr. Badois.
"Like other countries, it has different names in different languages,"
continued Mr. Mapps. "In German, it is Russland; in French, Russie; in
Italian, Russia, but pronounced _Roo´-see-ah_; in Spanish, Rusia. The
best English authorities pronounce it _Rush´ee-a_, though it is often
given with the _u_ like _oo_. It was formerly called _Muscovy_. It has
an area, in Europe and Asia, of about seven and one quarter millions of
square miles; or one seventh of all the land on the globe. The United
States,--including Alaska, has about one half as much territory; but
Russia in Europe contains only one third of this vast area. It has a
population of seventy-four millions--I give you the figures in round
numbers,--of whom four millions only are in Asia. It has about double
the population of the United States, which would give the same number
of people to the square mile, on the average. Russia consists mostly
of two great plains rather indefinitely separated by the water-shed
between the rivers that flow south into the Black and Caspian Seas,
and those which flow north and west into the Baltic and the Arctic
Ocean. The Valdai Hills, in the west-central part, which are not over
a thousand feet above the level of the sea, are the only elevations
or any consequence, except on or near the frontiers, where we find
the Ural and Caucasus ranges. Some portions of the country are uneven,
as Russian Poland and the Crimea; but there is very little variety of
scenery in the greater part of this vast region. In such a country you
would, of course, expect to find large rivers. The largest of these
is the Volga, twenty-two hundred miles long, and navigable to within
fifty miles of its source. The Don and the Dnieper are about a thousand
miles long. The Ural, the Dwina, the Petchora, and the Vistula are
important rivers. Russia contains thousands of lakes, most of them
in the northern and north-western part. Lake Ladoga, the largest in
Europe, is about the size of Lake Ontario; Onega is half as large;
Lake Peipus is twice as large as Lake Champlain; and Lake Ilmen is a
little larger than Moosehead, in Maine. Nearly all these rivers and
lakes are navigable for steamers and barges. You may take a boat,--the
commodore's barge, if you please,--go up to St. Petersburg, through the
Neva to Lake Ladoga, by the Volkof to Lake Ilmen, by canals, lakes,
and rivers, into the Volga, which becomes navigable for steamers at
Tver, a town on the railroad from Petersburg to Moscow. Continuing on
your voyage down the river to Nijni Novgorod, where the traveller by
steamer takes a larger boat, fifty-three miles below Kazan, or eight
hundred and fifty from Tver, you will reach the Kama River, the longest
tributary of the Volga. Pursuing your voyage up this river, you would
arrive at Perm,--if you went by steamer;--in about a week; and this
town is within two hundred miles of Asia. This is the usual route to
Siberia below Nijni, and the one by which convicts are sent. Instead
of going up the Kama, you could continue down the Volga, passing the
large towns of Simbirsk, Saratoff, to Tsaritsin, from which there is a
railroad to Kalatch, on the River Don, down which steamers descend to
the Crimea. From Tsaritsin you may proceed down the river to Astrakhan,
on the Caspian Sea, on which steamers ply to ports in Persia and
elsewhere. The Volga is the Mississippi of Russia, and of quite as much
importance to that country as the Father of Waters to us. The Baltic
and the Black Seas are also connected by a canal which unites the
Beresina, a branch of the Düna, or Western Dwina, to the Dnieper. There
are several other canals which connect the great natural water-ways, so
that boats may go from either of the seas on the border of Russia to
either of the others.
"A grand system of railroads has also been projected, as you may see
on the map. The first important one built was that from St. Petersburg
to Moscow, which was constructed by Americans at a vast expense,
considering the nature of the country through which it passes. An
English gentleman waited upon the Russian minister of finance with a
letter of introduction.
"'Then you have come to see Russia,' said his excellency.
"'Hardly the whole of it; I only desire to see what is most curious in
the country,' replied the tourist.
"'Ah! I then I will first show you the contract with the Americans to
build the railway to Moscow,' added the minister.
"Doubtless it was a very curious document, especially in the price
which his imperial majesty agreed to pay for the work. When he was
asked where he would have the road located, he took a ruler, and drew
a straight line on the map between the two cities; and except one
deviation to avoid the erection of an expensive bridge, this line
was followed, and consequently very few towns are upon the road.
A line extends south from Moscow to Kief, over six hundred miles,
and the communication of St. Petersburg with Odessa will soon be
completed. Lines from Cracow and Warsaw to Odessa are also in course of
construction. One may now go all the way by express train from Paris,
Ostend, or Calais, to St. Petersburg, in three days. Russia has now
forty-seven hundred miles of railway open for traffic; and nearly ten
thousand miles more are to be completed in four years.[A]
[Footnote A: The United States had, January 1, 1870, 48,860 miles of
railroad in operation, and 27,507 miles projected and in progress.]
"The principal productions of Russia are grain, hemp, flax, linseed,
tallow, and lumber. Wheat is by far the most important crop, and is
raised in vast quantities on the plains of Central Russia, and the
_steppes_ of the south. It exported, in 1867, nearly one hundred
millions of rubles' worth of this grain. Next in value is the flax
crop, of which the exports amounted in the same year to about twenty
million rubles."
"How much is a ruble?" asked Captain Cantwell.
"That is rather a difficult question to answer," replied the professor.
"Harper's Hand-book says in one place, a ruble is
eighty cents; in another, that it is seventy; in another,
eighty-three," suggested one of the students.
"Nearly all the money in circulation is paper, subject to varying
discounts, from ten to twenty per cent. Our money is also paper, and
at a discount of twelve or fifteen per cent. I have made a careful
comparison of the values of a dollar and a ruble, using the weight of
_pure_ silver in each as a basis, and I find that a ruble is 74.88+
cents; call it seventy-five cents. When gold bears a premium of twenty
per cent, in Russia,--which I understand is the usual rate at the
present time,--a ruble is worth sixty-four cents; but with our gold at
a premium of twelve and a half per cent., its value would be raised to
seventy-two cents."
"Of course these figures are useful only in comparing values as they
exist in the two countries," interposed Dr. Winstock.
"Precisely so. I make no account of exchange."
"With your permission, I will make an actual statement of a case,"
added the surgeon; and the boys were interested in the discussion.
"Being in St. Petersburg, I want money, and go to Asmus, Simonsen, &
Co., bankers. My letter of credit is payable in pounds sterling, and
the bankers draw on Bowles Brothers & Co., London, for the amount which
they pay me,--say twenty pounds,--and Bowles Brothers & Co. draw on
New York or Boston. My twenty pounds, with gold at sixteen and two
thirds, and exchange at ten per cent., costs me in New York $114.07.
With exchange between St. Petersburg and London at twenty-nine and
a half pence to the ruble, twenty pounds produces R 162.71 copecks.
Deducting one half per cent. commission, 81 copecks, and 40 copecks
for postage, my net return is R 161.50 copecks. Now, comparing what
I pay in New York with what I receive in St. Petersburg, I find that
my _paper_ ruble has cost me seventy and one tenth cents in currency,
which reduced to gold; at twenty per cent. premium, is sixty one and
two thirds cents."
"And in England, France, North Germany, with the exchange at the same
rate, that would be the real value of the money you receive," added
Mr. Mapps. "On account of the depreciation of the money in Russia, the
prices are higher. I was speaking of the value of the exports, and
when I speak of twenty million rubles, it means three fourths as many
dollars. Flaxseed, or linseed, brings in almost as much money as the
flax itself."
"What is it for?" asked a student.
"For making painters' oil. The exports of tallow and lumber are
each about twelve million rubles. The chief imports are raw cotton,
metals, machinery, tea, and manufactured goods. The soil of Russia
varies greatly, and large portions of it consist of sandy plains and
vast morasses. The condition of agriculture is improving under the
encouragement of the government, but does not yet compare favorably
with most of the western countries of Europe. Nearly half the land is
unimproved, and one fourth is forest land, which, however, is so badly
managed that it produces but a small fraction of what it might yield.
Iron, copper, gold, silver, and platinum are mined in the Ural Mountain
region and in Siberia. Iron is produced in excess of the wants of the
empire, and almost all the platinum in use in the world comes from
Russia. Vast quantities of salt are mined, and manufactured from the
brine springs. Peter the Great and all his successors have encouraged
manufactures, and the empire has made great progress in this direction.
Raw cotton, to the value of about forty million rubles, is imported for
the use of the mills. Woollen and silk goods are also manufactured in
considerable quantities.
"Nearly the whole of Russia is in higher latitude than the United
States, the Crimea, or southern portion, being in the latitude of
Maine, and St. Petersburg on about the same parallel as the northern
point of Labrador and the southern point of Greenland. About the
middle of November the Neva freezes, and is not open again till the
last of April. In December and January the thermometer sometimes
indicates twenty-five degrees below zero; but the average temperature
at St. Petersburg in winter is eighteen degrees above zero; in Moscow,
fifteen degrees; in Archangel, nine degrees. The average in summer is
sixty degrees in St. Petersburg, sixty-five degrees in Moscow, and
fifty-eight degrees in Archangel. The climate is generally healthy,
though there are various maladies peculiar to different regions, as
scrofula and scurvy.
"The government of Russia is an absolute hereditary monarchy; in other
words, the Czar or Emperor, is the legislative, executive, and judicial
power of the empire, which is the same thing as saying that his will is
the law of the land. But it ought to be added, that certain traditions
and rules are considered of binding force by the sovereigns; as the
law of succession to the crown, established by the Emperor Paul;
otherwise the Czar might select the next ruler; every sovereign, his
wife and children, must be of the Greek church. The heir apparent is
deemed to be of age at sixteen, which proves that a boy of this age
may be good for something. The members of the imperial family cannot
marry without the consent of the Emperor; and the children of any union
without his permission cannot inherit the throne. The present Emperor
is Alexander II., son of Nicholas I. and the Princess Charlotte, of
Prussia, who was the daughter of King Frederick William III., and
sister of the present king of that country. The Empress, his wife, is
the daughter of the late Grand Duke Ludwig II., of Hesse Darmstadt.
They have six children, of whom the oldest is the Grand Duke Alexander,
heir apparent to the throne. He was born in 1845, and is, therefore,
twenty-five years old. At the age of twenty-one he was married to Maria
Dagmar, daughter of the King of Denmark. The style of the emperor is
Autocrat of all the Russias, Czar of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, &c.
His sons are called Grand Dukes. The hereditary Grand Duke is often
called the Czarowitz. The term _Czar_, which evidently comes from
_Cæsar_, is variously spelled. In the Slavonic, which is the church
language of Russia, it is _Tsar_.
"The government of Russia, under the Emperor, is in the hands of four
great councils, the principal of which is the council of the empire,
consisting of the Ministers, the Grand Dukes, and such other members
as the sovereign may appoint. Though this board has a president, the
emperor often presides at its sessions. Its general duties are to
propose new laws, or alterations in old ones, and to attend to the
execution of the laws. The second council is called the Directing
Senate, and it is also the high court of justice, controlling all the
inferior tribunals. It is resolved into eight committees, five of which
sit at St. Petersburg, and three at Moscow, each of which has its
peculiar function. Appeals from the lower courts go to this council,
either in committee or as a whole, though the former may decide
certain cases. This body examines into and reports upon the revenues
and expenditures of the empire, appoints many public officers, and
advises the sovereign in matters within its jurisdiction. The third
council is the Holy Synod, having charge of all matters pertaining to
religion. It is composed of the chief dignitaries of the church, of
which the emperor is the head, and its decisions have no force without
his approval. The fourth board is the Council of Ministers, consisting
of eleven members, whose functions are substantially the same as in
other countries. Of course the emperor has absolute control over these
councils, to the extent he pleases to exercise it.
"You have already noticed that this map is cut up into small divisions.
These are governments, corresponding to departments in France, and
counties in America. Besides these, the country is divided into
vice-royalties, or general governments, at the head of each of which
is a viceroy, or general governor, who represents the emperor,
commands the troops, and has the supreme control of all affairs,
civil and military. In each government, or province, a civil governor
is appointed to represent the general governor, who is advised by
a council. Governments are divided into districts, which are again
subdivided into smaller ones. The officers of these smaller districts
are elected by the people. Every five houses in a place may choose one
delegate to the assembly of the commune, who elect delegates to the
district assembly, one for every ten houses. There are certain village
courts, presided over by two members elected by the commune, called
'conscience men,' who try cases relating to property in which no more
than five rubles is involved. You see that the Russians vote under
their absolute monarchy.
"The Russian nation is composed of more than a hundred different
races, speaking forty languages. The Russians--properly so called--are
the inhabitants of Great and Little Russia, who are from the Slavic
races. Besides these, there are Tartars, Poles, Germans, Jews, Finns,
Mongols, Persians, and others, who have been united in one nation. The
government has permitted these people, as their territory was conquered
and annexed to the empire, to retain their own laws and customs, so far
as they were not inconsistent with the general code of Russia.
"The original nobility of the country were the boyars; but Peter
the Great established a new order, and there are now in the empire
over half a million whose titles are hereditary, and a quarter of a
million who have only personal rank. The citizens of towns are ranked
in six classes, the first owning real estate; the second, having a
certain amount of taxable property; the third, mechanics; the fourth,
resident foreigners in business; the fifth, artisans, soldiers, and
scholars; and the sixth, all others. There are forty-seven million
peasants, of whom twenty-two millions were serfs, emancipated in 1863,
though indirectly they are obliged to pay for their freedom, for the
government compensated the owners of the land to which they were
attached, and collects the amount paid by an annual assessment on the
emancipated for the succeeding forty-nine years.
"The state religion, which is professed by a great majority of the
people, is the Greco-Russian, officially Styled 'Orthodox-Catholic
Faith.' When the Roman empire was divided into two portions, the
Eastern, or Byzantine, empire retained the Catholic religion, and the
bishop, or patriarch of Constantinople, was officially recognized as
second only to the Pope at Rome. But there was a schism in the Eastern
division, which resulted in a total separation in 1054. Then the
Patriarch of Constantinople became the head of the Eastern church, of
which the Russian church was a part. In 1588 a separate patriarchate
was established in Russia, and the Greek church is now made up of
ten independent organizations. The Russian church is governed by the
Holy Synod, at the head of which is the emperor, who has greater
power than the Pope of Rome in the external affairs of the church,
but cannot render a decision himself on theological questions. In
critical doctrinal cases, the patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem,
Antioch, and Alexandria are consulted, and when a decision is reached,
the emperor is as much bound by it as the prelates; and he does not
officially style himself the Head, but the Protector and Defender of
the Church.
"The Greco-Russian church differs from the Roman Catholic in denying
the supremacy of the Pope, and in not prohibiting the marriage of
the clergy. No priest can perform his spiritual functions before he
is married, and he is incompetent to do so at the death of his wife.
As he is forbidden to marry a second time, his occupation as a priest
is gone, though he may go into a monastery, and be eligible to office
in the church. There are important differences of doctrine also.
Russia has five hundred cathedrals and twenty-nine thousand churches
of the established religion, with two hundred and fifty-four thousand
clergymen of all ranks. There are four hundred and eighty monasteries
for men, and seventy convents for women. Peter the Great and Catharine
II. confiscated the immense wealth of the church not required for the
actual service, and the salaries of the clergy are very small, hardly
sufficient to support them. Jews are not allowed to settle in Russia
proper, but there is no other restraint on the non-Russian sects. The
Russian cannot renounce his creed. The subject of education among the
common people is receiving considerable attention at the present time,
and there are over one million pupils in the schools.
"There are in Russia fifteen cities having over fifty thousand
inhabitants, four of which have over a hundred thousand--St.
Petersburg, five hundred and forty thousand; Moscow, three hundred and
fifty-two thousand; Warsaw, one hundred and sixty-three thousand; and
Odessa, one hundred and ninety-two thousand.
"The army of Russia is raised by conscription, by the adoption of the
sons of soldiers, and by voluntary enlistment. The period of service
is from twenty-two to twenty-five years; but of late years the soldiers
are sent home after ten or fifteen years' service, to be recalled in
case of war. The Cossacks of the Don are not taxed, but do military
duty in payment for their exemption; and in case of necessity, every
man among them between the ages of fifteen and sixty is obliged to
serve. These are all in the cavalry service, and every Cossack is
obliged to keep his own horse, and to arm, equip, and clothe himself,
except when sent out of the country. The number in the service is
fifty-six thousand, and more than double this number are available.
On a peace footing the army has eight hundred thousand men, on a war
footing over one million.
"The navy of Russia contains two hundred and ninety steamers and
twenty-nine sailing vessels, with sixty thousand seamen.
"We are now prepared to sketch very briefly the history of Russia. It
contains a great many exciting incidents; but the time does not permit
me to give many of them. The Scythians and Sarmatians of the Greek and
Roman historians inhabited Russia in classic times. The Slavonians are
believed to be the same people, and they founded the towns of Novgorod
and Kief, which were the capitals of separate empires. These people
were savage and warlike races, and were at war with similar tribes
around them. The Varangians of the north attacked them, and were nearly
overwhelmed, when they invited the Russian prince Rurik to Novgorod;
and he came with his two brothers. From that time the different tribes
were united, and called Russians, but the Slavic language and customs
were retained. This was the foundation of the Russian empire. Rurik
died in 879, and left the regency of the empire to his cousin, Oleg,
his son Igor being only four years old. He conquered Kief, and annexed
it to his realm. He then got up an expedition against Constantinople,
and secured an advantageous treaty. He also subdued all the tribes
within reach of his armies. He had a favorite horse, which the
soothsayers declared would be the death of him; whereupon he sent
the animal away, and heard no more of him for years. Recalling the
prediction, he asked what had become of the horse, and was told he had
long been dead. Exulting over the defeat of the seers, he wished to
see the bones, and was conducted to the place where the skeleton lay.
'So this is the creature that was destined to be my death,' said he,
putting his foot on the skull. At that moment, a serpent, coiled up
within the skull, darted out and gave Oleg a bite, from the effects of
which he died. This is the story.
"The son of Rurik, Igor, came to the throne at the age of forty, and
after, much fighting was killed. His son, Sviatoslaf, was too young
to reign, and Olga, Igor's widow, was the regent. She was a bold and
cruel woman, and her adventures were very curious and romantic. After
severely chastising the Drevlians,--who had killed her husband,--they
offered her a tribute of honey and fur, which she declined, saying she
would be satisfied with a dove and three sparrows from each house,
which were promptly supplied. Having tied lighted matches to their
tails, she let them all loose in the evening, and flying back to
the nests, they set all the houses on fire, and the whole town was
consumed. The inhabitants escaped only to fall upon the swords of
Olga's army. You need not believe any more of these stories than you
please, young gentlemen," said the instructor, with a smile. "Olga
went to Constantinople to be baptized and instructed in the Christian
religion. When she exhorted her son to follow her example on her
return, he wanted to know if she wished him to be the laughing-stock
of his friends. Her son was a great warrior, won many victories and
was killed in battle. His empire was divided among his three sons,
Yaropolk, Oleg, and Vladimir. They soon quarrelled; Oleg was slain,
and Vladimir fled, leaving the entire realm to Yaropolk. But Vladimir
returned, and with the aid of the Varingians, conquered Novgorod and
Kief, and put his brother to death. He was a pagan at first, and gave
honors to his heathen deities. The neighboring nations, recognizing
his power and rude greatness desired to convert him to their own
faith, and he was induced to examine the religion of the Greeks, the
Roman Catholics, and the Jews. Olga, his ancestress, had been a Greek
Christian, and he was inclined to follow her example. When he had
decided to embrace it, his pride would not permit him to be baptized
in his own capital in the ordinary way, and he insisted that only
bishops from the parent church were worthy of so great a achievement as
the conversion of himself and his people. He resorted to a remarkable
expedient to accomplish his purpose: he made war upon Greece, marched
into the Crimea, and laid siege to Cherson, near Sevastopol, intending
to extort the rite of baptism. He demanded its surrender, saying he
was prepared to stay before its walls for three years. For six months
he made no progress, and was on the point of abandoning the conquest,
when a priest sent an arrow to which was tied a letter, informing him
that the city was supplied with water from a certain spring outside
the walls. Removing the pipes by which the water was conducted to the
town, Vladimir subjected the inhabitants to the pangs of thirst, and
thus compelled them to surrender. Everything was now favorable for his
baptism; but he had other views also. He demanded the sister of the
Greek emperors, Basilius and Constantine, in marriage, and threatened
to take Constantinople if his demand was refused. He was too powerful
to be denied, and the lady was sent to him. Vladimir received his
instructions, and was baptized with the name of Basil on the day of his
marriage to the princess, in 988. Returning to Kief, he destroyed the
wooden gods, and built churches and towns. His nature was changed, and
he became gentle and humane. He established seminaries of learning,
labored to extend Christianity in his dominions, and is now enrolled
among the Russian saints. At Moscow, if you go there, you will see the
remarkable cathedral of St. Basil. In history he is called Vladimir the
Great.
"This powerful prince divided his empire among his twelve sons, who, as
usual in such cases, went to war, and Sviatopolk I., after murdering
three of his brothers, obtained the throne. In 1019, Yaroslaf, the
brother who had received Novgorod as his portion, procuring the
assistance of Henry II. of Germany and of the King of Poland, after a
battle on the Alma which lasted three days, wrested the crown from
Sviatopolk, who died while fleeing into Poland. Another brother
compelled Yaroslaf to divide the empire with him; but at the death of
the former it was united again, in 1036. He was a powerful prince, and
greatly enlarged his territory. He built many churches, encouraged
learning, and caused the first code of Russian laws to be compiled.
At his death he gave the empire to his four sons, requiring the three
younger to be subject to the eldest; but his will was disregarded,
and Russia became a confederacy, instead of an empire, with four
rulers. The division and anarchy in the country enabled the Poles,
Lithuanians, Danes, and others to wrest large territories in the west
from the Russians. The progress in civilization which had continued
during the two preceding reigns was barred; famine and pestilence raged
in the land, and Genghis Khan, with vast hordes of Asiatics, invaded
and conquered the country. From the year 1054, when the civil wars
commenced, to 1462, when the Tartar power and influence were finally
broken, Russia was torn with dissensions, overrun by her powerful
neighbors, often visited by famine and pestilence; yet within this
period are recorded many great events. Moscow was founded in 1147;
Alexander, Grand Prince of Novgorod, won a great victory over the
Swedes and others on the Neva, which gives him the name of Alexander
Nevski.
"With Ivan III., or Ivan the Great, in 1462, begins a more glorious
period of Russian history. He was the Grand Prince of Moscow, and
conquered Novgorod, Kazan, Perm, Tver, and other principalities.
He married Sophia, niece of the Greek emperor Constantine XIII.,
on which occasion he adopted the double-headed black eagle as his
standard, and was the first prince who claimed the title of 'Autocrat
of all the Russias.' He was succeeded by his son Basil IV., in whose
reign the empire was still further united, and the Tartars completely
subjugated at Kazan. Basil was followed, in 1533, by his son Ivan IV.,
only three years old at his accession. During his minority the empire
was torn by anarchy and civil war; but when Ivan was only fourteen
years old, he seized the reins of power, and commenced the career of
cruelty and tyranny, which gave him the name of the 'Terrible.' But
he did more for Russia than any of his predecessors. He conquered
Kazan again, which had asserted its independence during his minority,
added Astrakhan, the Crimea, Siberia, and the country of the Don, to
his empire. He encouraged commerce, and established a printing office
in Moscow. He was a cruel tyrant, and caused the massacre of sixty
thousand people in Novgorod, and thousands in Moscow and Tver. Finally
he murdered his eldest son, and the only one who had the capacity to
succeed him, with his own hand. His son Fedor, who came to the throne
at his death, was weak in body and mind. His brother-in-law, Boris
Godunoff, was an ambitious man, and sought to obtain the crown. He
put out of the way several rivals and members of the imperial family,
and finally accomplished his purpose in 1605; but his cruelty caused
great dissatisfaction, and the people were ripe for revolt. At this
time appeared in Poland a very remarkable impostor, claiming to be the
Czarovitz of Russia, who was more successful than the pretenders that
sought the crown of England. In carrying out his ambitious project,
Boris Godunoff had procured the assassination of Dimitri, the youngest
son of Ivan the Terrible, a lad only ten years old. A Polish prince,
irritated by the negligence of a young man who had been in his employ
but a short time, gave him a blow on the side of the head, which was
accompanied by a very opprobrious epithet.
"'If you knew who I am, prince,' replied the young man, with tears in
his eyes, 'you would not treat me so, nor call me by that name.'
"'Who are you, and where do you come from?' asked the prince.
"'I am the Czarovitz Dimitri, son of Ivan IV.'
"He then detailed the manner of his escape from Boris's assassin,
and exhibited a Russian seal, bearing the names and arms of the
Czarovitz, and a gold cross adorned with jewels, which he declared was
the baptismal gift of his godfather. The prince believed his story,
and rendered him efficient help. He was presented to the Palatine of
Sandomir, whose daughter was plighted to him in marriage. He procured
the favor of Sigismond, King of Poland, by promising to bring Russia
over to the church of Rome. With a considerable army, including many
Polish knights, he marched into Russia, and after some discouragements,
took the city of Novgorod, and finally, by the treachery of some of
Boris's dependants, entered Moscow, and was duly crowned. Though he
had renounced the Greek Church, he concealed the fact. The widow of
Ivan IV. was brought from a convent to see him, and after a private
interview between them, she acknowledged that he was her son. His
affianced wife came to him in Moscow, attended by a numerous retinue
of Polish knights. The marriage was solemnized according to the rites
of the Russian church. But Dimitri was not skilful in concealing his
religion, and excited the suspicion of the priests and others. While he
was generous even to his foes, his heterodoxy was the ruin of him. A
conspiracy was organized, and he was murdered in cold blood, with many
of his followers, and his corpse exposed to great indignities.
"After his death the boyar Shuiska was crowned as Czar, under the title
Basil VI. Encouraged by the example of the false Dimitri, another
appeared, and many Polish knights supported his claim with arms. The
Czar appealed to Sweden for aid, which compelled the King of Poland to
espouse the cause of the pretender. The Swedes soon went over to the
Poles, Moscow was captured, and Basil VI. died in a Polish prison. The
Poles compelled the boyars to elect Vladislas, son of Sigismond, their
Czar. The new power treated Russia as a subdued province, which caused
an insurrection, and the Poles were driven from the country.
"The throne was now vacant, and in 1613 Michael Romanoff, the first
sovereign of the present royal family, was chosen emperor. He made
peace with the Swedes, and restored the commercial ties which had been
broken by the wars. In 1645 he was succeeded by his son Alexis, who won
the allegiance of the Cossacks of the Don, and regained the western
part of Russia, which had been held by the Poles. In this reign a
third false Dimitri appeared; but he obtained few adherents, and was
executed by Alexis. This Czar was followed by his son Fedor, in 1676,
who lived but six years after his accession, leaving no children; but
he had a brother and several sisters, children of his own mother, and
a half brother and half sister, children of his father's second wife.
The heir apparent was his own brother Ivan, who was weak in body and
in mind, while the half brother, Peter, was a brilliant youth of ten.
An attempt was made to set Ivan aside; but his sister, the Princess
Sophia, frustrated the plan so far as to cause both to be declared
sovereigns of Russia, and she was proclaimed the regent, who was
practically to rule the country. It is alleged that Sophia and Prince
Galitzin, her minister, organized a conspiracy to take the life of
Peter, when he was about seventeen, in order that she might continue
in the regency during the reign of his imbecile brother. Peter fled to
a monastery, followed by a portion of his party, and there organized
a counter movement. He managed his case so well that it was entirely
successful.
"The conspirators were severely punished; some of them were cruelly
tortured. Prince Galitzin escaped with his life, but forfeited his
immense property, and was banished to the northern regions of Russia,
while Sophia was shut up in a convent during the rest of her life. Ivan
declined to take any share in the government, and Peter was the sole
ruler in fact, if not in name. He is the Peter the Great of history,
and the founder of Russian greatness. In a brief period he made his
country one of the most powerful in Europe. In 1703 he founded St.
Petersburg, in a very unfortunate location, it must be confessed,
for at times the city has hard work to keep itself above water. His
ruling passion was to extend his empire, as well as to build it up, by
developing its resources. Though he suffered great defeats, he finally
carried all his plans. He made war on Sweden, and crushed Charles XII.
in the battle of Pultowa. He conquered the Ukraine, and carried his
conquests to the Caspian. He was a wonderful man; but he was a drunkard
and a brute in his manners. He was a genius in mechanics, and possessed
remarkable energy in the execution of his purposes; but he was
passionate, cold-blooded, and cruel. It is no wonder that his country
venerates his name, for no single man ever did so much for a nation as
he for Russia.
"Peter hated his first wife, who was the mother of the Czarovitz
Alexis, and he extended his hatred to his son, whom he first
disinherited, and afterwards poisoned with his own hands, in the
fortress of St. Petersburg. Though the fierce Czar had quarrelled with
Catharine, his wife, and had some doubts in regard to her character,
she was his successor. She was almost as remarkable a person as he
was, and had a powerful influence over him. She was born in Sweden,
but spent her earlier years as a servant in Livonia, one of the Baltic
provinces of Russia, which formerly belonged to Sweden. At the age of
sixteen she was married to a Swedish dragoon, who was ordered away two
days after the marriage. The town in which she lived was captured by
the Russians, and she was employed as a servant in the family of the
Princess Mentchikof, where Peter first saw her. He carried her away
with him, and perceiving that she had a large capacity for assisting
in the mission of his life, he privately married her in 1707, and
repeated the ceremony publicly four years later.
"From a common servant girl of the humblest parentage, she became the
empress of a mighty nation. After her husband's death, she endeavored
to carry out his progressive measures, during the two years of her
reign; but she softened the rule of the Czar by lowering the taxes,
and recalling the exiles from Siberia. Mentchikof was perhaps the
real ruler, though her gentleness and humanity are apparent in public
measures. Peter II., the son of the unfortunate Alexis, succeeded her,
according to the will of the empress. He was only twelve years old,
and a council of regency was appointed to rule during his minority;
but Prince Mentchikof soon seized the supreme control, and the young
emperor was betrothed to his daughter. He was so arrogant and brutal,
that he finally disgusted his imperial master, and with his whole
family, including the affianced of Peter, was banished to Siberia,
and his wealth confiscated. He had nine million rubles in notes and
securities, one million in cash, one hundred and five pounds of gold
utensils, four hundred and twenty pounds of silver plate, and a million
rubles' worth of precious stones, besides his palaces, and numerous
landed estates, all over Russia. His property was not less than forty
millions, or thirty millions of our money, most of which he had stolen
from the public treasury. Prince Dolgoruki took his place at the head
of the government.
"Peter died of small-pox, three years after his accession. He was the
last male member of the Romanoff family. Instead of following the line
of succession indicated in the will of Catharine I., who had daughters
still living, the nobles elected, as their empress, Anna, Duchess
of Courland, daughter of Ivan V., half brother of Peter I., who had
nominally reigned with him. It was intended that the boyars should be
the real rulers, and they induced Anna, before she was crowned, to
sign an instrument which placed all power in their hands; but when she
became empress, she repudiated the compact, and retained the absolute
power of her predecessors. In a civil war for the throne of Poland,
Anna sided with Augustus III., whose success gave Russia a controlling
influence in the affairs of this unhappy kingdom. Her favorite, Duke
Biren, her prime minister, and the actual ruler, was an arrogant and
cruel man, whose influence over the empress was all-powerful. By his
advice, she named, as her successor, the son of her niece Anne,--a
child in the cradle,--with Biren as the regent. He was Ivan VI.
"The unpopularity of the regent soon caused his overthrow, and Anne
was appointed in his place; but in a year after the death of the
Empress Anna, Elizabeth Petrovna, the daughter of Peter the Great and
Catharine,--a woman of no character,--usurped the throne. In a single
night her adherents captured the palace, and completed the revolution.
She reigned twenty-one years, and founded several universities, and
other literary and scientific institutions. She abolished the death
penalty and the rack, but the knout and other tortures took their
place, and the exiles to Siberia were numerous. In the Seven Years'
War, Russia was on the side of Austria. Elizabeth was a vain and
extravagant woman. She impoverished her treasury, and left a bad
reputation behind her.
"By her will she made her nephew Peter, late Duke of Holstein-Gottorp,
emperor; and from him, the present royal family is called the House
of Holstein-Gottorp. He attempted many reforms, and closely allied
himself to Frederick the Great, of Prussia; but many of his measures
were imprudent and impolitic. His wife Catharine was the daughter of
a princess of Holstein-Gottorp. Peter neglected her, and incurred her
hatred. She got up a conspiracy against him, which resulted in the
dethronement of her husband, only a few months after his accession,
and she was proclaimed empress as Catharine II. Peter was thrown
into prison, and there strangled. Her reign of thirty-four years was
brilliant for Russia, which became one of the Great Powers, without
dispute. She greatly enlarged its territory by the infamous partition
of Poland, the conquest of the Crimea, and the addition of Courland,
on the Baltic. Her most noted ministers and favorites were Orlof and
Potemkin.
"Her son Paul I. succeeded her in 1796. His mother had neglected him
in early years, and hated him when he became a man, keeping spies near
him, compelling him to live away from the court, and depriving him
of all power and influence. She had caused the murder of his father,
and the hatred was reciprocal. After his accession, he gave funeral
honors to his father, disinterred his mother's last favorite, Potemkin,
and threw his remains into a ditch. His temper had been soured by
his mother's treatment, and he took a malicious pleasure in undoing
what she had done. The revolution in France was in progress when he
came to the throne, and Paul joined the coalition against her, sending
his armies into Switzerland, Italy, and Holland, to fight against the
French republic. Suvarof, in these campaigns, proved himself to be one
of the greatest generals of his age, and is still held in the highest
veneration by the Russians. But the emperor, dissatisfied with his
allies, withdrew his armies from the coalition, and, with Denmark and
Sweden, joined in the armed neutrality, of which I have spoken to you
before.
"Paul was capricious, despotic, and subject to fits of partial
insanity, which aggravated his ill temper, and caused him to commit
the most atrocious deeds. By his second wife he had ten children, the
oldest of whom was Alexander, the Czarovitz; the second, Constantine;
and the youngest but one, Nicholas. Paul's humors were unendurable,
and Alexander consented to his dethronement, to avoid greater evils to
the empire. He signed a proclamation, announcing his assumption of the
crown. The conspirators found the emperor in his palace. Breaking into
his chamber, they required him to sign his abdication, and his refusal
brought on a struggle, in which, after a desperate resistance, he was
strangled with a sash. Alexander had not consented to the assassination
of his father, and the event filled him with passionate grief. This was
in 1801, and the new emperor was twenty-five years old, and a man of
decided ability. He was in favor of peace; but it was impossible for
him not to take part in the general war against Napoleon, though he
first entered into an alliance with him.
"The Russians and Austrians were defeated at Austerlitz in 1805.
Alexander joined his army to that of Prussia, and both were
disastrously defeated at Friedland in 1807, and the emperor was obliged
to conclude a peace with Napoleon at Tilsit, in which he was arrayed
against England and Sweden. The French stirred up a war in Turkey, in
which the Russians obtained Moldavia and Wallachia. A war with Sweden
resulted in the conquest of Finland. In 1810 Alexander, finding that
he had nothing more to gain by an alliance with France,--that his
commerce was suffering under the provisions of the treaty of Tilsit,
and that the marriage of Napoleon with Maria Louise would prevent him
from obtaining any more territory from Austria,--broke the treaty,
and prepared for war. In 1812 Napoleon marched into Russia late in
the season, with half a million soldiers, intending to crush Russia.
The Russians lost the terrible battle of Borodino, near Moscow, and
even this city fell into the hands of the French; but those who could
not defend it burned it. The winter suddenly set in, and the army of
Napoleon, robbed of their expected supplies and shelter in Moscow,
commenced that disastrous retreat which ended only in the total
destruction of the Grand Army. Prussia and Austria joined Russia the
next year; in the battle of Leipsic, the power of the French was
effectually broken, and in 1814 the allies entered Paris, and Napoleon
was sent to Elba. He returned, and was finally defeated in the battle
of Waterloo, and sent to St. Helena. The war ended, and Alexander
turned his attention to the internal affairs of the nation. He labored
earnestly to promote the civilization of his people, and to develop
the immense resources of his vast empire. In 1825 he set out on a tour
through his dominions, and died at Taganrag, near the mouth of the
Don, of the Crimean fever. He had been the champion of absolute power,
and had welded more closely the chains of Poland; yet, judged by the
Russian standard, he was an amiable and good man.
"At his death his brother Constantine was the Czarovitz; but this
prince had voluntarily renounced his right to the throne in favor of
his younger and only surviving brother Nicholas, who was proclaimed
Czar. A conspiracy, fomented before his accession, was sternly and
severely suppressed. Nicholas, like his brother, was despotic in his
ideas, and remorselessly crushed the insurrection in Poland in 1830,
making the kingdom a province of Russia. He enlarged his dominions,
and carried on the war in Circassia, which lasted fifty years. In 1853
Nicholas demanded of the Turkish government certain guarantees of the
rights of Greek Christians in Turkey, which the latter could not give
without yielding its sovereign rights, and a war ensued, in which
England, France, and Sardinia took part with the Turks. It was the
evident design of the Czar to conquer Turkey, and extend his dominions
to the Mediterranean.
"Nicholas did not live to see the end of this war, and was succeeded by
his son, Alexander II., in 1856. Sebastopol was captured after a siege
of about a year, and a treaty of peace was signed, by which Russia lost
her naval superiority in the Black Sea.[B] The war in the Caucasus
was continued, and ended by Alexander II., who is still the reigning
emperor."
[Footnote B: This provision of the treaty was abrogated by Russia in
1870.]
The professor closed his lecture, which, though longer than usual, was
listened to with interest to the end by the students.
"Young gentlemen," said the principal, "I desire to give you an
opportunity to see as much as possible of Russia, and for this purpose
you will all have an opportunity to visit Moscow; but I do not purpose
to go there in a body. There will be no ship's duty done at present. We
will divide you into four squads; the ship's companies of the consorts
forming two of them, the starboard watch of the ship the third, and the
port the fourth squad. A fifth party will make a more extended trip to
Nijni Novgorod and Kazan, down the Volga. The captain of each vessel
may appoint one to go on this journey, and four more will be elected
by ballot to-morrow night, two for the ship, and one for each of the
consorts, after your return from St. Petersburg."
Mr. Lowington retired amid the applause of the students.