CONCLUSION.
1719-1725
Death of little Peter--Excessive grief of the Czar--The Czar shuts
himself up--Device of his minister--Subsequent reign--His plan for the
succession--Oath required of the people--Prince
Naraskin--Proclamation--Catharine's usefulness--Splendour of the
preparations--The interior of the church--The dais--The canopy--The
regalia--The ceremonies--Sickness and death of Peter--Natalia--The double
funeral--General character of Peter--Compared with other
sovereigns--Playful vein in his character--Examples--The Little
Grandfather--Taken to Cronstadt--Triumphal procession--Display before the
fleet--Closing festivities--Catharine proclaimed empress--Catharine's
brief reign--Her beneficent character
At the time of the death of Alexis the Czar's hopes in respect to a
successor fell upon his little son, Peter Petrowitz, the child of
Catharine, who was born about the time of the death of Alexis's wife,
when the difficulties between himself and Alexis were first beginning to
assume an alarming form. This child was now about three years old, but
he was of a very weak and sickly constitution, and the Czar watched him
with fear and trembling. His apprehensions proved to be well founded,
for about a year after the unhappy death of Alexis he also died.
Peter was entirely overwhelmed with grief at this new calamity. He was
seized with the convulsions to which he was subject when under any strong
excitement, his face was distorted, and his neck was twisted and
stiffened in a most frightful manner. In ordinary attacks of this kind
Catharine had power to soothe and allay the spasmodic action of the
muscles, and gradually release her husband from the terrible gripe of the
disease, but now he would not suffer her to come near him. He could not
endure it, for the sight of her renewed so vividly the anguish that he
felt for the loss of their child, that it made the convulsions and the
suffering worse than before.
It is said that on this occasion Peter shut himself up alone for three
days and three nights in his own chamber, where he lay stretched on the
ground in anguish and agony, and would not allow any body to come in. At
length one of his ministers of state came, and, speaking to him through
the door, appealed to him, in the most earnest manner, to come forth and
give them directions in respect to the affairs of the empire, which, he
said, urgently required his attention. The minister had brought with him
a large number of senators to support and enforce his appeal. At length
the Czar allowed the door to be opened, and the minister, with all the
senators, came together into the room. The sudden appearance of so many
persons, and the boldness of the minister in taking this decided step,
made such an impression on the mind of the Czar as to divert his mind for
the moment from his grief, and he allowed himself to be led forth and to
be persuaded to take some food.
The death of Petrowitz took place in 1719, and the Czar continued to live
and reign himself after this period for about sixteen [Transcriber's
note: six? (Peter died in 1725)] years. During all that time he went on
vigorously and successfully in completing the reforms which he had
undertaken in the internal condition of his empire, and increasing the
power and influence of his government among surrounding nations. He had
no farther serious difficulty with the opponents of his policy, though he
was always under apprehensions that difficulties might arise after his
death. He had the right, according to the ancient constitution of the
monarchy, to designate his own successor, choosing for this purpose
either one of his sons or any other person. And now, since both his sons
were dead, his mind revolved anxiously the question what provision he
should make for the government of the empire after his decease. He
finally concluded to leave it in the hands of Catharine herself, and, to
prepare the way for this, he resolved to cause her to be solemnly crowned
empress during his lifetime.
As a preliminary measure, however, before publicly announcing Catharine
as his intended successor, Peter required all the officers of the empire,
both civil and military, and all the nobles and other chief people of the
country, to subscribe a solemn declaration and oath that they
acknowledged the right of the Czar to appoint his successor, and that
after his death they would sustain and defend whomsoever he should name
as their emperor and sovereign.
This declaration, printed forms of which were sent all over the kingdom,
was signed by the people very readily. No one, however, imagined that
Catharine would be the person on whom the Czar's choice would fall. It
was generally supposed that a certain Prince Naraskin would be appointed
to the succession. The Czar himself said nothing of his intention, but
waited until the time should arrive for carrying it into effect.
The first step to be taken in carrying the measure into effect was to
issue a grand proclamation announcing his design and explaining the
reasons for it. In this proclamation Peter cited many instances from
history in which great sovereigns had raised their consorts to a seat on
the throne beside them, and then he recapitulated the great services
which Catharine had rendered to him and to the state, which made her
peculiarly deserving of such an honor. She had been a tried and devoted
friend and counselor to him, he said, for many years. She had shared his
labors and fatigues, had accompanied him on his journeys, and had even
repeatedly encountered all the discomforts and dangers of the camp in
following him in his military campaigns. By so doing she had rendered
him the most essential service, and on one occasion she had been the
means of saving his whole army from destruction. He therefore declared
his intention of joining her with himself in the supreme power, and to
celebrate this event by a solemn coronation.
The place where the coronation was to be performed was, of course, the
ancient city of Moscow, and commands were issued to all the great
dignitaries of Church and state, and invitations to all the foreign
embassadors, to repair to that city, and be ready on the appointed day to
take part in the ceremony.
It would be impossible to describe or to conceive, without witnessing it,
the gorgeousness and splendor of the spectacle which the coronation
afforded. The scene of the principal ceremony was the Cathedral, which
was most magnificently decorated for the occasion. The whole interior of
the building was illumined with an immense number of wax candles,
contained in chandeliers and branches of silver and gold, which were
suspended from the arches or attached to the walls. The steps of the
altar, and all that part of the pavement of the church over which the
Czarina would have to walk in the performance of the ceremonies, were
covered with rich tapestry embroidered with gold, and the seats on which
the bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries were to sit were covered
with crimson cloth.
The ceremony of the coronation itself was to be performed on a dais, or
raised platform, which was set up in the middle of the church. This
platform, with the steps leading to it, was carpeted with crimson velvet,
and it was surmounted by a splendid canopy made of silk, embroidered with
gold. The canopy was ornamented, too, on every side with fringes,
ribbons, tufts, tassels, and gold lace, in the richest manner. Under the
canopy was the double throne for the emperor and empress, and near it
seats for the royal princesses, all covered with crimson velvet trimmed
with gold.
When the appointed hour arrived the procession was formed at the royal
palace, and moved toward the Cathedral through a dense and compact mass
of spectators that every where thronged the way. Every window was
filled, and the house-tops, wherever there was space for a footing, were
crowded. There were troops of guards mounted on horseback and splendidly
caparisoned--there were bands of music, and heralds, and great officers
of state, bearing successively, on cushions ornamented with gold and
jewels, the imperial mantle, the globe, the sceptre, and the crown. In
this way the royal party proceeded to the Cathedral, and there, after
going through a great many ceremonies, which, from the magnificence of
the dresses, of the banners, and the various regal emblems that were
displayed, was very gorgeous to behold, but which it would be tedious to
describe, the crown was placed upon Catharine's head, the moment being
signalized to all Moscow by the ringing of bells, the music of trumpets
and drums, and the firing of cannon.
The ceremonies were continued through two days by several other imposing
processions, and were closed on the night of the second day by a grand
banquet held in a spacious hall which was magnificently decorated for the
occasion. And while the regal party within the hall were being served
with the richest viands from golden vessels, the populace without were
feasted by means of oxen roasted whole in the streets, and public
fountains made to run with exhaustless supplies of wine.
The coronation of Catharine as empress was not a mere empty ceremony.
There were connected with it formal legal arrangements for transferring
the supreme power into her hands on the death of the Czar. Nor were
these arrangements made any too soon; for it was in less than a year
after that time that the Czar, in the midst of great ceremonies of
rejoicing, connected with the betrothal of one of his daughters, the
Princess Anna Petrowna, to a foreign duke, was attacked suddenly by a
very painful disease, and, after suffering great distress and anguish for
many days, he at length expired. His death took place on the 28th of
January, 1725.
One of his daughters, the Princess Natalia Petrowna, the third of
Catharine's children, died a short time after her father, and the bodies
of both parent and child were interred together at the same funeral
ceremony, which was conducted with the utmost possible pomp and parade.
The obsequies were so protracted that it was more than six weeks from the
death of the Czar before the bodies were finally committed to the tomb;
and a volume might be filled with an account of the processions, the
ceremonies, the prayers, the chantings, the costumes, the plumes and
trappings of horses, the sledges decked in mourning, the requiems sung,
the salvos of artillery fired, and all the various other displays and
doings connected with the occasion.
Thus was brought to an end the earthly personal career of Peter the
Great. He well deserves his title, for he was certainly one of the
greatest as well as one of the most extraordinary men that ever lived.
Himself half a savage, he undertook to civilize twenty millions of
people, and he pursued the work during his whole lifetime through
dangers, difficulties, and discouragements which it required a surprising
degree of determination and energy to surmount. He differs from other
great military monarchs that have appeared from time to time in the
world's history, and by their exploits have secured for themselves the
title of The Great, in this, that, while they acquired their renown by
conquests gained over foreign nations, which, in most cases, after the
death of their conquerors, lapsed again into their original condition,
leaving no permanent results behind, the triumphs which Peter achieved
were the commencement of a work of internal improvement and reform which
is now, after the lapse of a century and a half since he commenced it,
still going on. The work is, in fact, advancing at the present day with
perhaps greater and more successful progress than ever before.
Notwithstanding the stern severity of Peter's character, the terrible
violence of his passions, and the sort of savage grandeur which marked
all his great determinations and plans, there was a certain vein of
playfulness running through his mind; and, when he was in a jocose or
merry humor, no one could be more jocose and merry than he. The interest
which he took in the use of tools, and in working with his own hands at
various handicrafts--his notion of entering the army as a drummer, the
navy as a midshipman, and rising gravely, by regular promotion in both
services, through all the grades--the way in which he often amused
himself, when on his travels, in going about in disguise among all sorts
of people, and a thousand other circumstances which are related of him by
historians, are indications of what might be called a sort of boyish
spirit, which strongly marked his character, and was seen continually
coming out into action during the whole course of his life.
It was only two years before his death that a striking instance of this
occurred. The first vessel that was built in Russia was a small skiff,
which was planned and built almost entirely by Peter's own hands. This
skiff was built at Moscow, where it remained for twenty or thirty years,
an object all this time, in Peter's mind, of special affection and
regard. At length, when the naval power of the empire was firmly
established, Peter conceived the idea of removing this skiff from Moscow
to Petersburg, and consecrating it solemnly there as a sort of souvenir
to be preserved forever in commemoration of the small beginnings from
which all the naval greatness of the empire had sprung. The name which
he had given to the skiff was The Little Grandfather, the name denoting
that the little craft, frail and insignificant as it was, was the parent
and progenitor of all the great frigates and ships of the line which were
then at anchor in the Roads about Cronstadt and off the mouth of the Neva.
A grand ceremony was accordingly arranged for the "consecration of the
Little Grandfather." The little vessel was brought in triumph from
Moscow to Petersburg, where it was put on board a sort of barge or
galliot to be taken to Cronstadt. All the great officers of state and
all the foreign ministers were invited to be present at the consecration.
The company embarked on board yachts provided for them, and went down the
river following the Little Grandfather, which was borne on its galliot in
the van--drums beating, trumpets sounding, and banners waving all the way.
The next day the whole fleet, which had been collected in the bay for
this purpose, was arranged in the form of an amphitheatre. The Little
Grandfather was let down from his galliot into the water. The emperor
went on board of it. He was accompanied by the admirals and vice
admirals of the fleet, who were to serve as crew. The admiral stationed
himself at the helm to steer, and the vice admirals took the oars. These
grand officials were not required, however, to do much hard work at
rowing, for there were two shallops provided, manned by strong men, to
tow the skiff. In this way the skiff rowed to and fro over the sea, and
then passed along the fleet, saluted every where by the shouts of the
crews upon the yards and in the rigging, and by the guns of the ships.
Three thousand guns were discharged by the ships in these salvos in honor
of their humble progenitor. The Little Grandfather returned the salutes
of the guns with great spirit by means of three small swivels which had
been placed on board.
The Empress Catharine saw the show from an elevation on the shore, where
she sat with the ladies of her court in a pavilion or tent which had been
erected for the purpose.
At the close of the ceremonies the skiff was deposited with great
ceremony in the place which had been prepared to receive it in the Castle
of Cronstadt, and there, when one more day had been spent in banquetings
and rejoicings, the company left the Little Grandfather to his repose,
and returned in their yachts to the town.
Not many days after the death of Peter, Catharine, in accordance with the
arrangements that Peter had previously made, was proclaimed empress by a
solemn act of the senate and ministers of state, and she at once entered
upon the exercise of the sovereign power. She signalized her accession
by a great many acts of clemency--liberating prisoners, recalling exiles,
removing bodies from gibbets and wheels, and heads from poles, and
delivering them to friends for burial, remitting the sentence of death
pronounced upon political offenders, and otherwise mitigating and
assuaging sufferings which Peter's remorseless ideas of justice and
retribution had caused. Catharine did not, however, live long to
exercise her beneficial power. She died suddenly about two years after
her husband, and was buried with great pomp in a grand monumental tomb in
one of the churches of St. Petersburg, which she had been engaged ever
since his death in constructing for him.