PETER THE GREAT.

Peter, Czar, or Emperor of Russia, usually styled THE GREAT, was one

of the most remarkable persons in the history of modern times. A

sketch of his life may therefore prove interesting, as furnishing an

example of what may be accomplished for the benefit of mankind by one

enterprising mind. But first as regards the country over which it was

his fortune to rule.

Russia is a territory of vast extent in the northern part of Europe

and Asia. Presenting every variety of climate, this extensive region,

which is really an aggregation of various countries, was inhabited in

the seventeenth century by a barbarous people, having little

intercourse with the more civilized nations of the earth. The degree

of advancement in knowledge or social usages was very much that of

Turkey in recent times The Russian people knew little or nothing of

the useful arts, were rude in manners, dressed in cumbrous garments,

and the men wore long beards, according to the ancient Asiatic custom.

There was scarcely any kind of school-learning or education; even the

priests were grossly ignorant and superstitious. For one thing, they

believed and taught that the world was created in autumn, when the

fruits were ripe; unconscious that, when it is autumn in one

hemisphere, it is spring in the other.

At the period to which we refer――the middle of the seventeenth

century, or about the time of the Commonwealth in England――the Russian

people might have been divided into four classes: the Boyards or

noblemen who estimated their wealth by the number of serfs or slaves

upon their estates――these wretched serfs, of course, by far the most

numerous body of all; and the military, a turbulent set, who, as we

shall see, often resorted to the most violent means to obtain their

ends. Indeed so common and revolutionary had been revolts of the

Strelitzes, or soldiery of the capital, that the government has been

epigrammatically called ‘a despotism tempered by assassination.’ The

fourth class, and one which often took part in the factions of the

time, were the priesthood, the established religion being the form of

the Greek church. The monarchy was absolute, the will of the sovereign

being law; but it was not, as Poland was, an elective monarchy. The

male issue, however, of the ancient sovereigns failing, and several

pretenders to the throne having miserably perished, the chief Boyards

assembled a council, at which they elected a youth, named Michael

Romanow, to be czar. He was the son of a powerful nobleman, and

related, by the mother’s side, to the ancient czars. This took place

in 1613, at the period when his father was detained a prisoner by the

Poles, with whom the Russians were at war. An exchange of prisoners,

however, was soon after effected; and it is thought that, during the

life of the old man, he governed, though in his son’s name. It is not

our purpose to enter into the wars or troubles of this reign. Michael

Romanow made no alteration in the state, either to the improvement or

corruption of the administration. He died in 1645, and was succeded by

his son Alexis Michaelowitz (or son of Michael), who ascended the

throne by hereditary right.

Alexis, who was the father of Peter the Great, appears to have been

more enlightened than any of his predecessors. He introduced

manufactures of silk and linen; and, though unable to keep them up, he

had the merit of their first establishment. He endeavored to form

something like a code of laws, imperfect though they were; and he

peopled the deserts about the Wolga and the Kama with Polish and

Tartarian families, whom he had taken prisoners in his wars, employing

them in agriculture――before his reign, prisoners of war being the

slaves of those to whose lot they fell. But he had little time to

perfect his plans, being snatched away by a sudden death in 1677, at

the age of forty-six. Alexis had been twice married. By his first

wife, the daughter of the Boyard Meloslauski, he left two sons, and

either four or six daughters. By his second wife, who was the daughter

of the Boyard Nariskin, and who survived him, he left Peter and the

Princess Nathalia, the former having been born at Moscow on the 30th

of May 1672. Alexis had caused his eldest son, Theodore, to be

acknowledged his successor a year before his death, and he ascended

the throne at the age of fifteen: this prince inherited his father’s

abilities and disposition, but was of a sickly, feeble constitution.

The second son was Ivan, or John, who was miserably infirm, being

almost blind and deaf, and subject to convulsions. Of the six

daughters, we need only mention Sophia, who was less remarkable for

her great talents than for the wicked and mischievous use she made of

them.

Peter was but four years old at the time of his father’s death, and

was for a while little regarded. But the czars married without regard

to birth, and had likewise the power of choosing a successor; and,

conscious that his brother Ivan was incapacitated by his infirmities

for governing, Theodore, on his deathbed, nominated his youngest

brother Peter heir to the crown. This occurred when Peter was in his

tenth year, but not before his promising abilities had aroused the

jealousy of his sister Sophia. Probably from the difficulty of finding

suitable husbands for them, it had been the custom for the daughters

of the czars to retire into a monastery; but this designing princess

had no such inclination; and on the death of Theodore, she found

herself almost the natural guardian of two brothers, one of whom was,

from his infirmities, incapable of governing; and the other, on

account of his youth, she believed it possible to depose. In a word,

she aimed at sovereignty, although pretending to advocate the claim of

Ivan, and representing that she desired only to hold the reins for

him.

A succession of revolts was the consequence of her stratagems and

intrigues; and the most savage cruelties were perpetrated by all

parties. Sophia evidently sought some pretense for deposing Peter, and

accordingly she employed emissaries to stir up the soldiery against

the Nariskin family, especially the two uncles of Peter, spreading a

report that one of them had put on the imperial robes, and had

attempted to strangle prince John; adding, moreover, that the late

czar, Theodore, had been poisoned at their instigation by a Dutch

physician. Finally, she made out a list of forty noblemen, whom she

denounced as enemies to the state, and deserving of death. The

mutineers began by attacking two nobles, named Dalgorouki and Matheof,

whom they threw out of the palace windows. These unfortunates were

received by the Strelitzes on the points of their spears, and speedily

despatched, their dead bodies being afterwards dragged into the great

square. Soon after this, meeting with Athanasius Nariskin, brother to

the young czarina, and one of the uncles of Peter, they murdered him

in like manner, and, breaking open the doors of a church where some of

the proscribed had taken refuge, they dragged them from the altar, and

stabbed them to death. But it would be a horrible task to narrate the

atrocities which followed――the murder of the innocent physician and of

the other Nariskin, and the dreadful tortures by the knout, and other

forms which were practiced on the wretched victims.

Finally, Sophia succeeded in associating the name of her imbecile

brother in the sovereignty; the two princes, John and Peter, being

proclaimed joint czars in 1682, and herself denominated co-regent with

them. She then publicly approved of the outrages which had been

committed, and rewarded the perpetrators of them, confiscating, for

this purpose, the estates of the proscribed; and so completely did she

enjoy all the honors of a sovereign, thet her bust was engraven on the

public coin. She signed all despatches, held the first place in the

council, and exercised unlimited power. But new insurrections broke

out; and finally, she was induced to strengthen her authority by

admitting to her councils her favorite and lover, prince Basil

Galitzin, whom she created generalissimo, minister of state, and

lord-keeper. This new minister was a man of distinguished abilities,

and had received a much better education than the rest of his

countrymen. One of his prudent measures was to distribute the most

mutinous of the Strelitzes among different regiments, situated at

distant parts of the empire.

While Galitzin was engaged with the army, Sophia governed and acted at

Moscow as if altogether independent of her brothers the czars. A

circumstance, however, soon took place which put an end to her

intrigues and interference. In 1689, Peter’s marriage with Eudoxia

Federowna Lapuchin, effected through the influence of his prudent

mother, withdrew him in a great measure from those dissipating vices

which Sophia had done all in her power to encourage, and thus gave him

a new hold on the affections of the people. Sophia having desired to

be present, as regent, at a religious celebration at which czars

themselves were commonly present, Peter opposed it in vain; and a few

faithful Strelitzes having betrayed to him her intention to

assassinate him, with his wife, mother, and sister, he took refuge

with them for a while in the convent of the Trinity. Here he summoned

to his aid General Gordon, a Scotchman, who, with all the foreign

officers, immediately hastened to Peter. The young czar soon found

himself surrounded by numerous friends; and these, animated by his

personal bravery, and encouraged by his affable and generous demeanor,

quickly put him in a position to resist the machinations of his

sister. He accordingly compelled Sophia to take the veil, while

Galitzin and a few others were banished to Siberia. Peter now hastened

to Moscow, into which he made a solemn entrance, and in sight of all

the people embraced Ivan, who left the whole of the power in the more

able hands of his brother. From this instant he began to reign in

reality as Peter I, although the name of the infirm Ivan remained as

joint czar till his death in 1696.

One of the most cruel wrongs Sophia had committed on her brother, was

that of keeping him in ignorance, and surrounding him, at the very age

when character is formed, with every temptation to excess and

dissipation. It cannot be supposed that he escaped the contamination

of such lures; but most truly has it been said, that ‘his virtues were

all his own, his vices those of his education and country.’ He early

evinced one quality of a great mind――the comprehension of his own

ignorance, joined to the most ardent thirst for knowledge. His, too,

was that faculty inseparable from the man born for a great ruler――that

quick and certain appreciation of the character and talents of others,

which always enabled him to know the fit instrument with which to work

out his plans. Thus, happening to dine one day at the house of the

Danish minister, he was struck with the manners and conversation of

the private secretary, at once perceiving the superiority of his mind.

This was a youthful Genevese, named Le Fort, who had been educated for

a mercantile profession; but being of an adventurous disposition, and

early displaying decided military talents, had enlisted as a

volunteer, and served in the low countries. After encountering several

dangers, and having a narrow escape of transportation to Siberia,

though for what offense we cannot discover, he found his way to

Moscow, and obtained employment in the capacity we have mentioned.

Le Fort had received the advantages of a European education, and

possessed great powers of observation. It was he who explained to the

czar the wonderful superiority of the trained and disciplined troops

of western Europe over the wild soldiery of Russia; and now it was

that Peter conceived the daring plan of annihilating the Strelitzes,

who had so often been instrumental in setting up and deposing

monarchs. But his measures were at present cautious and secret. Soon

after his friendship――for it deserved the name――with his young

adviser, the czar formed a regiment on the European system, to which

he appointed Le Fort colonel; and, to give his people a lesson of

subordination, he entered himself as drummer! Indeed, as we shall see,

it was his custom to aim at the root of all knowledge, and thoroughly

master the subjects he took in hand; and he knew that he could not

more thoroughly acquire a knowledge of military affairs than by

passing through all the gradations of the profession.

It was through the same individual that Peter became acquainted with

another person, who, in the sequel, exercised scarcely less influence

in the empire than Le Fort himself. This was Menzikoff, a youth of the

very humblest origin, who sought his fortune in Moscow at the age of

fourteen, and became apprentice to a pastry-cook. He used to hawk

cakes and pies about the streets, recommending them in a kind of song

of his own composing. It was while engaged in this occupation that he

attracted the attention of Le Fort, who entered into conversation with

him, and, pleased with his ready wit, brought him to the czar. On

Peter he must have made an equally favorable impression, for we find

him mentioned as a royal page soon afterwards.

About the same time that Peter organized the body-guard under Le

Fort’s direction, he commenced building some vessels, with which he

purposed sailing down the Don, and attacking Azoph, which was then in

the hands of the Turks. A reference to the map of Europe will show the

importance of this place, which is in fact the key to the Black Sea;

and nothing proves more completely the genius of Peter the Great, than

the intuitive knowledge he possessed of the importance of maritime

power, and the wants of his vast empire. Hemmed in by enemies――for in

those days neighboring states were commonly such――the Black Sea

commanded by the Turks, and the Baltic by the Swedes, he felt that his

country could never be great till seaports were wrested from them.

Former czars had issued edicts forbidding their subjects to travel

beyond the empire. Peter saw that the great difficulty was, not to

keep people in, but for anybody to get out; and he knew there was no

better method of enlightening the ignorant, and of removing

prejudices, than to encourage the influx of civilized strangers, and

to afford facilities for his own people to travel in other countries.

We are the last who would find merit in the exploits of mere military

heroes or conquering rulers, but it is impossible to withhold our

admiration from the youthful czar at this period of his career. The

Ottoman empire was then one of the most powerful states in the world.

A very few years before, Vienna had been besieged by 200,000 Turks,

and the Emperor Leopold compelled to flee from his capital; and Sweden

was a country greatly superior in the scale of civilization,

possessing disciplined and experienced troops――soon to have Charles

XII, the most warlike monarch in Europe, at their head. But it was not

from any love of ‘the game of war’ that Peter contemplated aggressions

on his neighbors, but as the necessary _means_ to a great _end_. He

could not humanize his people without seaports; so seaports he was

determined to have.

It is said that, in his childhood, Peter I had an absurd dread of

water; indeed to such an extent, that crossing a river would throw him

into convulsions. A story is told of his having narrowly escaped

drowning when about five years old, the fright received on that

occasion being the origin of this future antipathy; but, for our own

part, we have very little faith in the tradition of the czar’s

‘hydrophobia.’ He was subject all his life to epileptic fits; but as

his brothers had been afflicted with something similar, they were most

probably hereditary. Perhaps the story of his dread of water was

invented, to heighten the wonder of his achievements on that element.

At all events, if it ever existed, it must early have been conquered;

for in his boyhood he appears to have amused himself by paddling about

the river Yausa, which passes through Moscow, in a little Dutch skiff,

which had attracted him, from its being so superior to the

flat-bottomed boats with which alone he was acquainted. Even when he

had never seen the ocean, and was five hundred miles distant from the

sea, he comprehended the wants of his vast unwieldy empire, and

resolved that it should become a maritime power.

Accordingly, in 1695, he sailed down the Don, and attacked Azoph; but

this first campaign was unsuccessful, chiefly in consequence of the

desertion of an artillery officer named Jacob, who nailed up the

Russian cannon, turned Mohammedan, and, going over to the Turks,

defended the town against his former master. The czar, however, was

not likely to be discouraged by a single failure. He renewed his

attack the following year; and as the death of his brother John just

at this time had thrown into his treasury the income which had

maintained the dignity of the nominal czar, he had the means of

strengthening and supplying his forces in a more efficient manner. The

new ship-yard at Woronetz, on the Don, furnished him in the summer of

1696 with a fleet of twenty-three galleys, two galleasses, and four

fire-ships, with which he defeated the Turkish fleet off Azoph. All

relief by sea being now cut off, he pushed the siege with renewed

vigor, and in two months――July 29――the Russians entered Azoph. To

secure the possession of this key to the Black Sea, he enlarged and

strengthened the forts, constructed a harbor capable of admitting

heavy vessels, and gave orders for fifty-five war-ships to be built,

at the same time keeping in view the construction of a canal whereby

to connect the Don and the Volga.

A year or two before these events Peter had divorced himself from his

wife, whom he had married in his boyhood――a wife chosen for him, not a

partner of his own choice. Many reasons have been assigned for this

step; but the true one appears to be, that she was a woman of mean

intellect, a slave of superstition and bigotry, the mere creature of

the priests, and that, consequently, she opposed herself to all his

plans of reformation; for the priests, knowing that their power would

melt away before the torch of knowledge, lost no opportunity of

vilifying the czar, and thwarting his schemes if possible. Peter

certainly committed an error of judgment in leaving his son Alexis

under her care, as the result proved; but to our mind it was a proof

of kindness and consideration to the mother, which reveals a more

feeling heart than historians generally allow him to have possessed.

A desirable seaport acquired, and an unsuitable wife got rid of,

Peter’s next step was to send a number of young Russians to finish

their education in Italy, Germany, and Holland. Hitherto Russia had

been without an official representative in any of the states of

Europe; but the czar fitted out a splendid embassy to the

States-General of Holland, of which Le Fort and Menzikoff were the

principal plenipotentiaries, Peter himself accompanying them, though

simply as an _attache_ to the mission. The ease and security with

which he left his vast empire to the government of deputies, prove how

firmly established was his power. Passing through Riga, on his way to

Holland, he sought permission to visit the fortifications; but was

refused by the Swedish governor――an indignity which Peter resolved to

punish by and by. Proceeding through Prussia, he was received by the

king with great respect, and with all the pomp and circumstance of

royalty. Here Peter separated himself from the embassy, and proceeded

to Holland, traveling privately, and as fast as possible. He arrived

at Amsterdam fifteen days before his ambassadors, and engaged a small

apartment in the dockyard belonging to the admiralty. He soon

afterwards adopted the habit of a Dutch skipper, and in that dress

proceeded to Saardam, where he enrolled himself as a journeyman

carpenter, under the name of Peter Michaeloff, in the employment of a

ship-builder named Calf. Here he lived in a little shingle hut for

seven weeks, made his own bed, and prepared his own food――corresponded

with his ministers at home, and labored at the same time in

ship-building.

Such was the manner in which Peter the Great proposed to acquire the

art of ship-building; as willing to work as a carpenter for this

purpose, as he had been for another to do a drummer’s duty in his

model regiment. Truly does one of his earliest biographers remark,

‘that many sovereigns have laid down their authority from weariness of

the cares and troubles of empire, but he alone quitted his dominions

in order to study the art of governing them.’ What a picture of Peter

the Great presents itself to the contemplative mind at this period;

and what a meeting must that have been which accidentally took place

between him and the duke of Marlborough at Saardam! For the English

noble was well aware that, in the workman ‘Peter Michaeloff,’ he

beheld the undisputed proprietor of a quarter of the globe, the

autocrat who had the power of life and death over all its inhabitants;

in short, the czar of Muscovy. Peter was at this time, 1697,

twenty-five years of age, and is described as a large, powerful man,

with bold and regular features, dark-brown hair, that fell in natural

curls about his neck, and a dark, keen eye, which glanced from one

object to another with singular rapidity. He was dressed on that

occasion in a red woolen shirt and duck trousers, and a sailor’s hat,

and was seated, with an adze in his hand, upon a rough log of timber

which lay upon the ground. He was conversing with great earnestness

and much gesticulation with some strangers, his countenance

displaying, by its strong and varying expression, the interest he took

in their discourse. The soldier-duke――is it not easy to imagine the

contrast of costume and character?――approached, and opened a slight

conversation by some remarks on the art of ship-building. While they

were thus engaged, a stranger in a foreign costume appeared, bearing

an enormous letter in his hand; the journeyman started up, and

snatching the packet, tore off the seals, and eagerly perused it,

while the stately Marlborough walked away unregarded!

Who can tell what this very despatch contained! Most probably life or

death, freedom or slavery, fame or fortune, of one or many of his

subjects hung upon the word of that ‘foreign journeyman.’ It was while

handling the compass and the adze at Saardam that the confirmation was

brought him of the double, or rather rival, nomination of Augustus,

elector of Saxony and prince of Conti, to the vacant throne of Poland;

and Peter, already assuming the right to be a king-maker, promised to

assist Augustus with thirty thousand troops. Meanwhile his army was

gaining fresh victories near Azoph; but Peter had a nobler ambition

than the desire of military glory. He continued to improve himself in

different arts, passing frequently from Saardam to Amsterdam to hear

lectures on anatomy; and he made himself capable of performing several

operations in surgery. He also mastered the Dutch language, and made

considerable progress in mathematics, civil engineering, and the

science of fortification; besides visiting every literary, charitable,

or scientific institution, and the paper-mills, saw-mills, and all

manufacturing establishments, which he examined carefully, with the

intention of introducing similiar ones into his own empire.

‘What is that?’ was his constant exclamation at beholding anything

new; nor would his inquiring mind rest for a moment till he obtained

an explanation. We can fancy the astonishment of the quiet, lethargic

Hollanders at this energetic prince, who, though choosing to work as a

carpenter, took no pains to conceal his rank; flying about the country

with an activity of mind and body equally incomprehensible to them,

and seeking knowledge with more ardour and avidity than other princes

had ever sought even pleasure.

Peter spent about nine months in the Netherlands, during which time a

sixty-gun ship was completed from his own draught and model, and at

much of the carpentry of which he worked with his own hand. This

vessel, said to be an admirable specimen of naval architecture, he

sent to Archangel――for as yet the czar had not a seaport on the

Baltic. He then crossed over to England, where he was received with

great attention by William III, who deputed the Marquis of Caermarthen

to attend him, and devote himself to the service of the czar. Peter’s

chief object was to examine the dockyards and maritime establishments

of England as he had done those of Holland; but though he still

preserved his _incognito_, he no longer worked as a journeyman. Yet,

according to an old writer, ‘he would often take up the tools and work

with them; and he frequently conversed with the builders, who showed

him their draughts, and the method of laying down, by proportion, any

ship or vessel.’ At first he lodged in York Buildings, while in

London; and the last house next the river, on the east side of

Buckingham Street, near the Strand, is said to have been inhabited by

him; but afterwards, that he might be near the sea, he occupied a

house belonging to the celebrated John Evelyn at Deptford.

Under the date of January 30, 1698, we find in Evelyn’s diary as

follows:――‘The czar of Muscovy being come to England, and having a

mind to see the building of ships, hired my house, Saye’s Court, and

made it his court and palace, new furnished by the king.’ And just

about this time Mr. Evelyn’s servant writes to his master

thus:――‘There is a house full of people, and right nasty. The czar

lies next your library, and dines in the parlour next your study. He

dines at ten o’clock, and at six at night; is very seldom at home a

whole day; very often in the king’s yard, or by water, dressed in

several dresses. The king is expected there this day: the best parlour

is pretty clean for him to be entertained in. The king pays for all he

has.’ What a glimpse one gets at the past through such gossip as this!

Though the czar did not now carry his enthusiasm so far as to work as

a carpenter, yet his fondness for sailing and managing boats was as

eager here as in Holland. Sir Anthony Deane and the Marquis of

Caermarthen were almost daily with him on the Thames, sometimes in a

sailing yacht, and at others rowing in boats――an exercise in which

both the czar and the marquis are said to have excelled. The Navy

Board received directions from the Admiralty to hire two vessels, to

be at the command of the czar whenever he should think proper to sail

on the Thames, to improve himself in seamanship. In addition to these,

the king made him a present of the Royal Transport, with orders to

have such alterations and accommodations made in her as his czarish

majesty might desire; and also to change her masts, rigging, sails,

etc. in such a way as he might think proper, to improve her sailing

qualities. But his great delight was to get into a small-decked boat

belonging to the dockyard, and taking only Menzikoff, and three or

four others of his suite, to work the vessel with them, he being the

helmsman. By this practice he said he should be able to teach them how

to command ships when they got home. Having finished their day’s work,

they used to resort to a tavern in Great Tower Street, close to Tower

Hill, to smoke their pipes, and to drink beer and brandy. The landlord

had the czar of Muscovy’s head painted, and put up for his sign, which

continued till the year 1808, when some one took a fancy to the old

sign, and offered the then occupier of the house to paint him a new

one for it. A copy was accordingly made from the original, which

maintains its station to the present day, as the sign of the ‘Czar of

Muscovy.’

While in England, Peter also directed his attention to engineering;

and, what is curious, received a doctorate from the university of

Oxford. He took into his service upwards of five hundred

persons――officers, engineers, cannoneers, surgeons, etc.; in

particular, a body of skillful engineers and artificers, whom he

despatched to Russia, for the purpose of carrying out a great project

which he had already arranged in his own far-seeing mind. This was to

open a communication, by locks and canals, between the rivers Volga

and Don and the Caspian Sea. And it may convey an idea of the

ignorance and superstition with which Peter had to contend, that this

noble scheme raised an outcry among the priests and nobles, who

declared it was ‘a piece of impiety to turn the streams one way which

Providence had directed another.’ Ferguson, the celebrated engineer

and geometrician, entered into his service, and was the first person

who brought arithmetic into use in the exchequer of Russia.

Previously, they had made use only of the Tartarian method of

reckoning, by balls strung upon a wire.

In the latter end of 1698, Peter returned to Holland on his way home;

and on taking leave of King William, he presented him with a ruby of

the value of £10,000, drawing it from his waistcoat pocket, ‘wrapped

up in a bit of brown paper.’ It was truly a royal present, though not

given after a very royal fashion; but Peter had a great contempt for

forms and ceremonies, and William III was far too sensible a man to

stand very greatly upon them. Peter also, in return for the attentions

bestowed on him by the Marquis of Caermarthen, conferred on that

nobleman the right to license every hogshead of tobacco exported to

Russia, and to charge five shillings for each license. This must have

brought a large revenue, for an English company had thought it worth

while to pay £15,000 for the monopoly of the exportation. While in

London, his attention was forcibly attracted to the magnificent

building of Greenwich Hospital, which, until he had visited it, and

seen the old pensioners, he had some difficulty in believing to be

anything but a royal palace. King William having asked him one day how

he liked his hospital for decayed seamen, the czar answered, ‘If I

were the adviser of your majesty, I should counsel you to remove your

court to Greenwich, and convert St. James’ into a hospital.’

From Holland, Peter traveled to Vienna, most probably to have an

interview with the emperor of Germany, who was no doubt very glad to

obtain an ally against his old enemies, the Turks. He was received

with great pomp; but, in the midst of the festivities which marked his

arrival, news reached him that an insurrection had broken out in

Moscow, though it had already been quelled by the energy and decision

of General Gordon, whom he had left in authority. This intelligence,

however, induced him to give up a visit to Italy, which he had

intended; and traveling with his usual speed, he hastened back to his

capital. He soon discovered that the Strelitzes had been instigated to

rebellion by the Princess Sophia, who, taking advantage of her

brother’s absence, had hoped to resume her authority. Several of the

ringleaders were hanged within sight of Sophia’s window, and others

condemned to a more cruel death, and broken on the wheel. Certainly,

when we consider how sanguinary the laws were at that period, even in

the most civilized states of Europe, we cannot consider this

retaliation undue severity on the part of Peter; indeed it appears to

have been a necessary step to secure his own authority. As for the

absurd stories which were current at the time, and which we are sorry

to find repeated by many respectable writers, no credit should attach

to them. We mean the stories of the wholesale massacres which took

place――Peter and his chief officers turning butchers themselves, and

reveling in this preäppointed slaughtering with as little compunction

as sportsmen when they find themselves in a preserve of game. A closer

examination of facts and authorities dispels the whole as an idle

report, exaggerated as it traveled from mouth to mouth, and quite out

of keeping with the real circumstances of the case. It is true that

Peter had already done a great many things ‘with his own hand’ that

sovereigns had seldom done before; but then they were things which no

one but himself was clever enough to do. His indifference to war

(except as the _means_ to his great _ends_), commented on with evident

astonishment by an English churchman, whom he conversed with when he

visited Oxford, is a proof that he was not of a sanguinary

disposition; and besides this, he _wanted men_ so much both for

soldiers and workmen, that _he could not spare_ the two or three

thousand subjects who are said to have been beheaded, or otherwise

slaughtered, for after-dinner pastime. It is much more likely that he

should have set them to work in the hardest and meanest capacity on

the canals and bridges he was already forming.

In 1699, Peter experienced a severe loss in the death of his friend

and counselor, General Le Fort, on whom he bestowed funeral honors

similar to those awarded to former sovereigns. He assisted, himself,

in the procession, marching after the captains as a lieutenant, which

rank he held in Le Fort’s regiment. It was also about this time that

he lost his able general, Gordon, whose soldierly qualities had been

so essential to him in the reformation of his army. Menzikoff, who had

risen from obscurity by his talents and activity, now became the

favorite and counselor of Peter. The Strelitzes――those instruments of

insurrection and turbulence――were now supplanted by twenty-seven new

regiments of infantry and two of cavalry, who, within three months,

were disciplined and brought into marching order. Nothing but merit

and length of services was regarded in the appointment of officers.

Besides the reconstitution of the military, Peter now devoted himself

with incessant activity to the internal regulation of his empire,

which assumed, by degrees, the appearance of a new creation.

It was now that the czar turned his attention to change the

inconvenient customs of his people. To do this, he began by levying a

tax upon long beards and petticoats; patterns of closebodied coats

being hung up in public places. But so attached were they to old

customs, that his revenue was increased, instead of their dress being

altered. His next proceeding savors somewhat of the ludicrous. He

stationed tailors and barbers at each of the gates of Moscow, whose

duty it was to cut the beard and whiskers of every man who entered,

and ‘to cut his petticoats all round about.’ In the process of the

latter mutilation, the victim was made to kneel down, when his

garments were clipped on a level with the ground. An anecdote is told

which has something almost affecting, in the proof it affords of the

earnestness with which these poor people clung to their unclean and

inconvenient habits. The czar on one occasion met an old man coming

from the barber, and addressed him, saying that he looked like a young

man, now he had lost his beard; upon which the man put his hand into

his bosom, and drew forth the beard which had been cut off, telling

the czar he should preserve it, in order to have it put into his

coffin, that he might be able to produce it to St. Nicholas in the

other world!

About this time the czar altered the commencement of the year from the

1st of September to the 1st of January――a proceeding which gave almost

equal offense to his people, who thought he was undertaking to change

the course of the sun. He next instituted assemblies for the

encouragement of social intercourse between the sexes, that people

might have a reasonable opportunity of forming suitable marriages.

Hitherto wives had been sought in the Asiatic manner――the bride being

given away or sold by her parents, without being previously seen by

the intended bridegroom. And while all these social and moral

reformations were going on, Peter was building a fleet on the Don,

connecting that river with the Volga, and planning to wrest a

sea-coast territory from a warlike nation, on which to build a new

metropolis――St. Petersburg.

Hitherto the capital of Russia had been Moscow, which, being inland,

was ill adapted for commerce. With a view to remedy this defect, Peter

fixed on a site for his new capital at the mouth of the river Neva,

and adjoining the Gulf of Finland. But the land in this quarter was

not his own: it belonged to Sweden. His object was therefore to seize

upon one or two provinces, add them to Russia, and then commence

building his town. It is distressing to have to relate such a

circumstance of a man whom, on other grounds, we are inclined to

respect. According to the way in which history is usually written, the

commission of such acts is not only not reprobated, but in some cases

is commended. We, however, cannot unite in glossing over acts of

injustice, even though they be done by kings. Peter was guilty of

rapacity, and the only excuse that can be found for him is, that he

did nothing more than what all sovereigns of his time considered it no

crime to commit. To attain his desired end in this and other respects,

Peter, in 1700, entered into a political alliance with Augustus, king

of Poland and elector of Saxony, and the king of Denmark. These three

potentates combining against the youthful Charles of Sweden――who, by a

sort of miracle, proved himself, at eighteen years of age, the

greatest general in Europe――the czar determined to take from him the

provinces of Ingria and Carelia; Augustus desired to regain Esthonia

and Livonia, ceded by Poland to Charles XI; and Denmark wished to

regain Holsten and Sleswick. Peter invaded Ingria at the head of

60,000 men; and, desirous to find some pretext for his aggressions,

could choose no better one than that his ambassadors had been charged

exorbitant prices for provisions while passing through that province

on their way to Holland; though he also reminded them that he himself

had been insulted by being refused a sight of the citadel of Riga!

At the latter end of September Peter laid siege to Narva, a fortified

town on the river Narowa, just at the time that Charles was engaged

with the Danes, and putting an end to the war in Denmark. This,

however, was accomplished in a few weeks; and then, at the head of

only 9000 troops, he came to the relief of Narva. Peter, probably

astonished that the place had held out so long, but never doubting of

ultimate success, left the army encamped before Narva to meet a body

of nearly 30,000 men, whom he had sent for. The reason of this

proceeding cannot be easily explained; for certainly the presence of

the czar was most required with the main body, already 60,000 strong,

at the scene of action. Probably he went forth to meet the

reinforcement only from the restlessness of mind and impatience of

delay which were part of his character. It was a false step, however.

During his absence, on the 19th of November, Charles came up to Narva,

and taking advantage of a tremendous snow-storm, which beat directly

in the faces of the Russians, fell upon them, and with his 9000 men

completely routed or captured an army of nearly seven times the

number. The prisoners taken were nearly 40,000; and the inconvenience

of the long petticoats was at last discovered, since they hindered a

great number from――running away! Never was a more ignominious defeat,

though the czar bore it with the greatest philosophy. ‘I know very

well,’ he said, ‘that the Swedes will have the advantage of us for a

considerable time; but they will teach us at length to beat them.’

On the occasion of this defeat, the priests composed a prayer to St.

Nicholas, which was publicly offered up. It besought his assistance

against those ‘terrible, insolent, furious, dreadful, invincible

destroyers,’ who had fallen upon them ‘like lions and bears deprived

of their young――frightening, wounding, and killing them by

thousands’――and declaring that such calamities could only have

befallen them from ‘witchcraft and sorcery.’ Peter, however, did not

wait for the help of St. Nicholas. He entered into negotiations with

the kings of Denmark and Poland to assist him with troops, and to keep

up the quarrel with Charles XII; at the same time he melted the church

and convent bells of Moscow to found cannon, and made every

preparation for his intended campaign in the ensuing spring. But amid

all his preparations for war, Peter never lost sight of those projects

which were to bring forth their fruits in peace. At this period he was

founding hospitals and schools, erecting linen and paper factories,

and importing sheep from Saxony, gathering together smiths, braziers,

and artificers of every description, and having the mines of Siberia

explored for ore.

It is not our purpose to detail the battles and sieges which took

place in the course of the following year or two, although we must

mention one of them more particularly, as it was the occasion of

introducing to Peter a person who henceforth took part in his

fortunes. Marienburg was a little town on the confines of Ingria and

Livonia, which, besieged by Peter’s army, surrendered at discretion.

Either through accident or design, the Swedes who defended it set fire

to the magazine, which so incensed the Russians, that they destroyed

the town, and carried away all the inhabitants. Among the prisoners

was a young girl of about sixteen years of age, a Livonian by birth,

who had been brought up from charity in the house of a Lutheran

minister. There is no reason to suppose she had occupied any higher

station than that of servant in his family; but it is said that she

had been married to a Swedish soldier, who fell in the siege, the very

day before it took place. This widowed orphan was taken to the camp of

one of the Russian generals. Precisely how or when Peter first saw

her, can never be known; but the best authenticated and most likely

story is, that while engaged in handing round dried fruits and liquors

at the house, or in the tent of Prince Menzikoff, the Livonian slave,

known only by the name of Martha, first attracted the attention of the

czar. According to his invariable custom, when pleased by the manners

or countenance of any one, he entered into conversation with her, and

soon discovered that she possessed a mind of more than ordinary

intelligence. To this she joined, as events proved, a cheerful and

lively disposition, a kind heart, and an amiable temper. No doubt

Peter had penetration enough to see that she was precisely the woman

who could share his enthusiasm, sympathise in his plans, and be, in

short, the wife he wanted. The meanness, or indeed obscurity of her

birth, was no obstacle to him; he had absolute power to raise her to

the loftiest condition in his empire; and, accordingly, by the name of

Catherine, which she now adopted, he married her at first privately,

but a few years afterwards with the state and ceremony of public

nuptials. Thus was chosen the partner of his throne, and his successor

upon it.

It was soon after these events――1700――that the death of ‘the

patriarch,’ or supreme head of the Russian church, afforded the czar

an opportunity of beginning some wholesome reforms in that quarter. He

had thought it necessary to commence his military career by fulfilling

the humblest duties of a soldier, and we have seen that he set about

learning the art of ship-building by working with his own hands; but

when he boldly annihilated the office of patriarch, and placed

himself, without any preparatory steps, at the head of the church, he

probably thought there was nothing the priests could teach him which

he desired to learn. Certainly a set of men who believed that sanctity

dwelt in a beard, and who were in the habit of placing letters of

introduction to their patron saint in the hands of deceased persons

when laid in their coffins, were not likely to meet with much respect

from a great reformer like Peter I: and the few whose glimmer of

intelligence raised them above the gross superstition and corruption

of the mass, must have experienced all the temptations of

self-interest to oppose themselves to the projects of the czar; for

they must have known that the nation once enlightened, their power

would be gone.

Let us however, not be misunderstood in the use we may make of the

words ‘nation’ and ‘people.’ As a nation――as a people――the Russians

are not to this day sufficiently enlightened to choose their own

legislators and enjoy a constitutional form of government; and, sunk

in the ignorance and barbarism from which Peter partially raised them,

a perfect despot, such as he was, was the only ruler that could have

had power enough to help them.

The printing-press, which Peter had introduced, vomited forth libels

of various sorts upon him; and he was denounced as Antichrist by the

priests. A few, however, defended him from this charge, but only

because ‘the number six hundred and sixty-six was not to be found in

his name, and he had not the sign of the beast.’

It was about this time that the czar took an excellent opportunity of

showing that new customs are generally better than old ones. On the

occasion of the marriage of one of his sisters, he invited the

principal Boyards and ladies of Moscow to celebrate it, requiring them

to appear dressed after the ancient fashion. The dinner was served up

in the manner of the sixteenth century. By an ancient superstition, it

was forbidden to kindle a fire on a wedding day; accordingly, though

it was winter, no fire was permitted. Formerly, the Russians never

drank wine, so none was provided; and when the guests murmured at any

of the unpleasant arrangements, Peter replied, ‘These were the customs

of your ancestors, and you say old customs are the best.’ A practical

lesson of more force than wordy arguments, and one that might afford a

useful hint in much more recent times.

Having obtained the provinces he required, Peter set about building

St. Petersburg; in the execution of which work he overcame

difficulties which would have discouraged any other man. The spot he

fixed upon was a miserable morass, half under water, without wood, or

clay, or stones, or building materials of any kind; with a barren

soil, and a climate of almost polar severity. The resolution to build

this city has always been spoken of as an act of extreme rashness;

for, to its other disadvantages, it was liable to be flooded by the

waters of the gulf on the prevalence of a south-west wind, more

particularly if the wind should blow at a time when the ice of the

Neva was breaking up in the summer thaws.

Whether Peter was aware of all these disadvantages, is not clearly

ascertained. It is only certain that, notwithstanding every drawback,

he continued the building of St. Petersburg, which, under his

marvelous energy, soon became a splendid city, adapted for commerce

with all the world. What he began, his successors have finished; and

St. Petersburg now vies in grandeur with any city in Europe. Although

never seriously injured by flooding, as was anticipated, it has on

divers occasions been exposed to great alarm, and the safety of the

inhabitants has been endangered. Indeed inundations are so frequent in

many of the low parts, that water is as much dreaded in St. Petersburg

as fire in many other cities; accordingly, precautions have been taken

to guard as much as possible against any such calamity. When an

inundation is anticipated, a cannon is fired from the Admirality, and

signal-flags hoisted on the steeples, and the alarm-gun is repeated

every hour until the danger appears at an end.

When the river rises so high as to lay the lowest streets under water,

the alarm-gun is fired every quarter of an hour; and in proportion as

the peril increases, the cannons are more frequently fired, until

minute-guns are understood to be a cry of despair, summoning boats to

the assistance of the drowning people.

The highest inundation of which there is any record occurred on the

17th of November 1824; and in every street there is a painted mark,

showing the height to which the waters rose. The Russians speak with a

shudder of the sufferings which took place on that occasion. The rise

of the river was at first gradual and stealthy; but, impelled by a

furious west wind, it soon came streaming through the streets, lifting

some of the carts and equipages from the ground, but drowning many

horses, which were unable to extricate themselves from the heavier

vehicles to which they were attached. A description is given of the

trees in the public squares being as much crowded with human beings as

they had ever been seen with sparrows; and a story is told of a

gardener who, having been engaged in clipping some trees on an

acclivity, had not observed the rise of the water until it was too

late to seek any other refuge than the roof of a garden pavilion. But

here he was joined by such a host of rats and mice, that he was in no

small danger of being devoured by them. Fortunately, however, a dog

and a cat sought refuge in the same spot, and, with such powerful

allies, he remained in safety all night. The river subsided to its

accustomed channel the next day; but, dreadful as the loss of life and

property had been, the worst effects had still to follow. Many houses

fell in from the injury they had received, and it was long before the

damp could be expelled from those which remained. Almost universal

sickness was the consequence, and a fearful mortality from the

epidemics which raged for weeks afterwards.

To return, however, to Peter. His chief antagonist was Charles XII of

Sweden, one of the greatest soldiers of his age. Charles had evidently

nothing more dignified in his nature than might belong to a gladiator

or prize-fighter. He lived as if men came into the world to fight, and

for nothing else. He had no idea of such a condition as peace. He

laughed at all social and domestic ties, and made a jest of the

severest trials of human affections. He had not a heart capable of

love or friendship himself, and despised all those who had. He was

simply destructive; no fertilizing or humanizing influence followed

his career; and when, at a later period, his absence on a disastrous

expedition had been protracted for years, and his neglected and

impoverished subjects besought him to return home, his answer was,

that he would send ‘one of his boots to govern them’――a sorry jest,

but one that sufficiently showed his nature.

‘His was a name at which the world grew pale,

To point a moral, or adorn a tale.’

Peter, on the other hand, never encouraged war, except for the

furtherance of some great object. While fighting battles, he was at

the same time planning cities, founding hospitals and scholastic

institutions, forming canals, building bridges, and traveling about to

superintend everything himself, under all circumstances, and in all

seasons; and by such means undermining his constitution, and sowing

the seeds of disease, which carried him off in the prime of life. In

his early years his habits were intemperate, it is true; but though he

is reported to have said, ‘I can reform my people, but I cannot reform

myself,’ he _did_ reform those pernicious habits which had been

systematically inculcated by the machinations of the infamous Sophia,

and in the latter part of his life lived abstemiously. Peter was a

creator, constructor, and reformer among his people, and well deserved

the title of Great.

While Charles was busy elsewhere, Peter took the opportunity of again

attacking Narva. He laid siege to it by sea and by land, although a

large body of his troops were still in Poland, others defending the

works at St. Petersburg, and another detachment before Derpt. But

after several assaults on one side, and a most determined resistance

on the other, Narva was at length taken, the Czar being among the

first to enter the city sword in hand. His behavior on this occasion

must have gained him the respect and even the affection of his new

subjects. The besiegers had forced their way into the town, where they

pillaged and exercised all the cruelties so common with an infuriate

soldiery. Peter ran from street to street, rescued several women from

the brutal soldiers, and endeavored by every means to put an end to

violence and slaughter, killing with his own hand two of the ruffians

who had refused to obey his orders. He entered the town-hall, whither

the citizens had run in crowds for shelter, and, laying his reeking

sword upon the table, he exclaimed, ‘This sword is not stained with

the blood of your fellow-citizens, but with that of my own soldiers,

which I have spilt to save your lives!’

As soon as Peter had acquired the provinces he wished, he became

anxious for peace; but violence always suggests reprisals; and Charles

was by no means inclined to lose a portion of his territory without

further fighting. He in fact determined on undertaking an inroad into

Russia, and dictating a treaty of peace at Moscow. Peter, who knew the

nature of the Russian territory and population, was not alarmed at

this decision of his rival. His clear intellect perceived the

difficulties which the rigorous climate and vast extent of country to

be traversed must present to an invading army, and he took measures

quietly to increase these impediments. The army of Charles ravaged the

country wherever they went, and put to death, without remorse,

hundreds of the peasantry, whom they suspected of concealing from them

grain or other provisions. It may convey some idea of the demoralizing

influence of war, and the strange distorted notions which prevailed,

to mention that the chaplain of the king of Sweden praises these

executions as acts of justice on the part of his master!

The Czar, with his army, retreated slowly before the advancing

enemy――thus drawing them on, step by step, into the heart of a barren

country, until the northern monarchs and their followers were lost to

the world among the wildernesses of ancient Scythia. But the

circumstances of the Czar were very different from those of the

invader. He was at home, knew even the wilderness, and was in safe and

convenient communication with his own cities and magazines. His

hundred thousand men were well provided, and, before the snows of

winter set in, were in comfortable quarters. About this time Mazeppa,

the hetman of the Cossacks, deserts from Peter to Charles, and so far

changes the purpose of the latter, that instead of proceeding direct

to Moscow, he resolves first to reduce the Ukraine, which is a fertile

territory lying between ancient Poland and Moldavia, and was then, as

now, belonging to Russia. Some of the Swedish officers implored their

king to halt, and go into the best quarters they could find for the

winter. But no; he would go on; and after the loss of thousands of his

men from cold, hunger, disease, and misery of all sorts, he laid siege

to Pultowa, a town of the Ukraine, in the month of May, 1709, with the

remnant of 80,000 men, now numbering less than 20,000!

On the 15th of June the Czar came up to assist his besieged town; by a

feint, which deceived the Swedes, he succeeded in throwing 2000 men

into the place; and a few days afterwards the famous battle of Pultowa

took place, at which the Swedish army was completely routed and

destroyed. Both sovereigns appeared in the front of the battle,

although Charles, having received a wound a few days before, which had

broken the bones of his foot, was carried about in a litter, to give

directions; and the litter being shattered by a cannon-ball, he was

then supported on the pikes of his soldiers, several of whom fell in

this dangerous service. However, when all was over, desperation lent

him strength; for he was able to make his escape on horseback. In its

results, this battle was one of the most important ever fought in

Europe. Had the Czar fallen, there can be no question his people would

have sunk back into the barbarism from which he was striving to draw

them, and Denmark, Poland, and Russia, must have received laws from

the brutal Swede. By the mercy of Providence these horrors were

averted; and henceforth Charles became an object of pity rather than

dread.

After the battle, Peter invited the Swedish officers taken prisoners

to dinner, and drank to their health as ‘his masters in the art of

war.’ His prophetic words at Narva were now verified: the Swedes had

indeed taught the Russians to beat them. However, the greater part of

these ‘masters’――officers, subalterns, and privates――were sent to

Siberia; for Charles had refused an exchange of prisoners previous to

the battle, and now Peter would not grant it. Meanwhile Charles

escaped to Bender, and took refuge among the Turks. By his emissaries

he represented to the sultan the growing power of Russia, revived in

him the desire to recover Azoph, and to expel the Russians from the

Black Sea; and finally succeeded in bringing about a declaration of

war from Turkey against the Czar. The Turks commenced hostilities by

imprisoning the Muscovite ambassador, upon which Peter levied an army,

and marched to the frontier of Turkey at the head of 40,000 men.

Before setting out, however, he made a public proclamation of his

previous marriage with Catherine, who insisted upon accompanying him

in this campaign.

It is a singular circumstance that, in this expedition, Peter fell

into an error almost identical with that which had led to the

overthrow of his rival. Charles had trusted to the representations of

the double traitor Mazeppa, who promised to supply him with food and

men; and Peter allowed himself to be led into a hostile and barren

country, relying on the faithless hospodar of Moldavia, who had

promised him similar assistance. On reviewing the coincidence, one

cannot help fancying that perhaps, after all, there might be less of

stratagem on the part of the czar than chance movements, which led the

Swede on to his ruin, or surely he would not have been blind to the

consequences of conduct so similar. To be brief: when Peter had

crossed the river Pruth, he found himself near Jassy, hemmed in

between an army of Turks and another of Tartars, with a rapid river

rolling between him and his dominions, with scarcely any provisions,

and without perceiving the means of procuring them; and in this manner

were the 40,000 Russians held at bay by enemies whose numbers were

said to amount to 200,000. Still they fought desperately; a sort of

protracted battle going on for three days, during which time 18,000

men were lost. The situation of the czar was dreadful. One can imagine

the agony of mind he must have endured at the thought of perhaps

himself being paraded as a captive at Constantinople: yet retreat was

impossible; and escape from death or capture seemed equally hopeless.

In this hour of torture and distress the czar shut himself up in his

tent, either to take counsel of himself, or to hide his deep

mortification. He gave strict orders that no one should disturb him;

but the wife who had shared his perils, and knew his heart, ventured

to transgress these commands, and made her way to his side. She found

him in terrible convulsions――an attack of the fits to which he was

subject having been brought on by the agony of his mind. Catherine,

who possessed an extraordinary power of calming him on these

occasions, applied the usual remedies; and, assuming a cheerful

manner, described the idea which had suggested itself to her mind as a

means of escaping the threatened ruin.

Certainly this idea was so simple and natural a thing, under the

circumstances, that the only marvel is, that it had not occurred to

Peter himself and his entire staff. She proposed that a negotiation

should be attempted; and, to comply with the custom of approaching the

grand vizier with presents, she stripped herself of her jewels, and

ransacked the camp for every article of value that might make a

suitable offering. It is not likely that, on this military tour, she

had encumbered herself with any costly ornaments, and two black foxes’

skins are the only articles we find specially mentioned.

She it was who chose the officer she considered most intelligent and

trustworthy for the important mission to the vizier, and she it was

who gave him his instructions. Some hours having elapsed after his

departure, it was feared that he had been killed, or was detained a

prisoner; and a council of war was held, at which we find Catherine

was present. At this council it was resolved that, if the Turks

refused to enter into a treaty of peace, rather than lay down their

arms and throw themselves on their mercy, the Russians would risk

their lives by attempting to cut their way through the enemy. During

this interval, Peter, despairing of any favorable results from the

mission, and reduced to despondency, wrote to the senate at

Moscow――‘If I fall into the hands of the enemy, consider me no longer

as your sovereign, and obey no commands which shall proceed from the

place of my confinement, though it should be signed by my own hand. If

I perish, choose the worthiest among you to succeed me.’

The return of the messenger, however, prevented these desperate

measures, for he brought the intelligence that an honorable treaty had

been agreed to by the vizier. The partisans of Charles XII have always

upbraided what they call the cowardice of the Turkish governor on this

occasion; but it seems to us that he behaved in a dignified and

enlightened manner, and, in consenting to put an end to the war,

consulted the interests of his country, a hundred times more than if

he had sacrificed fresh troops in opposing the czar, and driving the

Russian army to desperation. Hostilities were suspended immediately;

and soon afterwards articles were signed, by which Azoph was

surrendered to the Turks, the czar excluded from the Black Sea, the

Russian army withdrawn beyond the Danube, and the promise given of a

free passage to Charles XII through Russia to his own dominions. Much

as this seems for Peter to have sacrificed, that Catherine’s services

were considered extraordinary is proved beyond question; and several

years afterwards, on the occasion of her being crowned empress, Peter

again publicly acknowledged them, referring to that ‘desperate

occasion’ in these words――‘She signalized herself in a particular

manner by a courage and presence of mind superior to her sex, which is

well known to all our army, and to the whole Russian empire.’

The fury of Charles on hearing of this treaty knew no bounds. He

sought the Turkish camp, and insulted the vizier to his face, who

retorted only by some bitter sarcasms on his own prostrate condition.

He refused to take advantage of his right to return home; and, still

nourishing the insane hope of being able to attack Moscow, he lingered

at Bender till 1714, when the Turks, heartily tired of their

troublesome guest, sent an army to dislodge him, and he made his way

to Sweden in the disguise of a courier.

Of Charles XII of Sweden we need only further say that he fell from a

chance ball, which entered his temple, and killed him on the spot, on

the 11th of December 1718, while conducting the siege of

Frederickshall, a small town in Norway; just in time, according to

some historians, to prevent a union with his old opponent the czar to

disturb the government of Great Britain. If the mere existence of such

a scourge as Charles XII were not in itself too grave a subject for

mirth, one might be amused at the acknowledgments of his panegyrist

Voltaire, who, in summing up his character, alludes to his great

qualities, of which he says――‘One alone would have been enough to

immortalize any other prince;’ and yet admits that they caused the

misery of his country. And that his ‘firmness, become obstinacy, led

to the sufferings of his army in the Ukraine, and its detention in

Turkey; that his liberality degenerated into profusion, and

ruined Sweden; that his justice sometimes’――we should say very

often――‘approached to cruelty; and that the maintenance of his

authority verged upon tyranny.’ Moreover, that he ‘gained empires to

give them away.’ Yes; for the mere pleasure, to him, of fighting and

slaughtering! What a pity he was not born a butcher instead of a king!

If an admirer acknowledged thus much, what was the truth likely to

have been?

Meanwhile Peter had been going on with his mighty reforms,

notwithstanding the opposition of the ignorant and superstitious

priesthood, who worked on the people by every means in their power.

They taught them that all these alterations were in direct opposition

to the will of Heaven; and among other tricks, persuaded them that the

pictures of the saints wept at their transgressions. This deception

was contrived by making a cavity behind the head of the picture, and

filling it with water; then, when the occasion arrived that it was

proper for the tears to flow, a little fish was put into the water,

which, splashing about, forced out the water at the eyes of the

painting.

In 1715-16, Peter indulged himself by making a second tour in Europe,

taking Catherine with him. He visited Saardam, where, eighteen years

before, he had worked as a ship-builder; and where he was now received

with every demonstration of honor and regard. It is related that he

showed the czarina, with much interest, the little cabin in which he

had worked and lived. There were some political reasons which detained

Peter for nearly three months in Holland. He was nearer the centre of

intelligence than at home concerning the purposes of other powers,

some of whom were plotting against him. However, after conducting a

correspondence, and drawing up a treaty with France, he returned to

St. Petersburg, traveling by way of Berlin.

We come now to a dark and mysterious passage in the life of Peter the

Great. Alexis, Peter’s son by his divorced wife, appears to have

possessed naturally but an inferior intellect, joined to that species

of low cunning which often belongs to it, without any moral qualities

to counterbalance such defects; and unfortunately his mistaken

education had confirmed him in his vices and follies. We have already

mentioned that, on his marriage being dissolved, Peter allowed his son

to remain with his mother. The consequence was, that from an early age

he was placed under the control of the priests, who not only instilled

into his mind their own superstitious notions, but taught him that the

changes in the government and manners of the people effected by the

czar were acts offensive to God. It is impossible to help sympathizing

with Peter in the disappointment he must have felt at finding his only

son a stupid, and yet mischievous and profligate creature; for the

only son which Catherine brought him died a mere infant. Remembering

that the Russian succession was vested in the will of the autocrat,

who was supposed to have a perfect right to bequeath the sovereignty

to whomsoever he pleased, every candid reader will acknowledge that

Peter was quite justified in disinheriting his unworthy son, whose

first act, on gaining the reigns of government, would have been to

undo, to the best of his ability, the great works of his predecessor.

But it is impossible to justify the extreme severity of the czar,

although we can comprehend the excuses which might be offered for it.

Not that historians do offer them, for they seem, almost without

exception, to dwell on the darkest side of the question, almost

without remembering the provocatives to his wrath. The simple truth is

a deep enough tragedy.

When Alexis was about twenty years of age, which appears to have been

as soon as Peter discovered the mischief that was done, he tried to

repair it, by placing a different order of persons about him, and

sending him to travel. When he came back, he married him to an amiable

and intelligent princess of the house of Brunswick, who died in less

than four years, literally of a broken heart, from the neglect,

cruelty, and profligacy of her brutal husband. After her death, Peter

wrote a letter to his son, which concluded with these words:――‘I will

still wait a little time to see if you will correct yourself; if not,

know that I will cut you off from the succession as we lop off a

useless member. Don’t imagine that I mean only to frighten you; don’t

rely upon your being my only son; for if I spare not my own life for

my country and the good of my people, how shall I spare you? I would

rather leave my kingdom to a foreigner who deserves it, than to my own

son who makes himself unworthy of it.’ And in a subsequent letter,

Peter said――‘Take your choice; either make yourself worthy of the

throne, or embrace a monastic state.’

But Alexis seemed not at all inclined to do either; although, during

fits of pretended penitence, he was willing to do anything. There is

no doubt, however, that the terror of the Czar was, that even if his

son entered a monastery, he might still at his death be placed at the

head of that party who were opposed to reform, and so recover the

throne. It seems to us that this dread of future ruin to the country

is the true explanation of Peter’s severity; for, taking into account

the barbarism of the times, and the sanguinary laws all over Europe,

we can find no evidence of a cruel disposition in the history of Peter

the Great.

Before the Czar set out for Germany and France, he visited his son,

who was then on a bed of sickness. On this occasion Alexis solemnly

promised that, if he recovered, he would embrace a monastic life; but

his father was no sooner out of Russia, than the prince became

suddenly well, and entered upon his former life of riot and

dissipation. Some intelligence of what was occurring at home reached

the Czar, and he wrote a peremptory letter to his son, desiring him

either to enter a monastery without delay, or join him at Copenhagen.

Upon this Alexis declared his intention of going to Copenhagen, and

drew money from Menzikoff for his traveling expenses. But, apparently

frightened at the thought of meeting his father――and really it is easy

to fancy the incensed czar an object of great terror to the

culprit――he proceeded to Vienna, there to concoct some treasonable

schemes with the emperor of Germany, who, however, alarmed at the

probable consequences, got rid of him; and from Vienna he turned his

steps to Naples. His plan seems to have been to get out of his

father’s way as far as possible, and wait the chances of life and

death that might place him in some new position. But Peter I, either

as a sovereign or a father, was not a personage to be treated in this

manner. Accordingly, we find him despatching two messengers to Naples,

to bring Alexis back to Moscow by fair means or foul. There is

evidence that he accompanied them, on the solemn assurance of his

father’s forgiveness; and this deception certainly gives the darkest

hue to the trial and condemnation which followed.

As soon as Alexis arrived at Moscow, which was in February, 1718, a

council was called, at which he was publicly disinherited; and after a

long private conference with the czar, the particulars of which never

transpired, Alexis was arraigned as a criminal, and tried for

conspiring against his father’s life and throne by a body of

‘ministers and senators, estates military and civil.’ Peter was so

accustomed to make his own will the law, that in this array of judges

there is clear evidence that he wished in some measure to throw the

responsibility from his own shoulders, or rather to seem to do so; for

no doubt the judges only strove to decide in the manner which should

best please their master. After all, the condemnation chiefly rested

upon the confession of Alexis himself, and the acknowledgments of his

mistress, his companions, and his confessor; and the words of these

were wrung from them on the rack. Certainly Alexis made himself out to

be much more guilty than any other evidence proved; and yet the czar’s

only excuse for revoking his pardon was, that it had been promised ‘on

condition that he confessed everything.’

There can be no doubt that this weak and vicious young man had been

quite ready to lend himself to any plot; or, according to his own

words, ‘If the rebels had asked me to join them in your lifetime, I

should most likely have done so――if they had been strong enough.’ And

in answer to another question, he said that he ‘had accused himself in

confession of wishing the death of his father;’ but that the priest

had replied that God would pardon it, as they all wished it as much.

At last he is found guilty. A council of clergy, who are among those

referred to for a sentence, quote from the Bible, and especially

Absalom’s case, and recommend mercy. But further transgressions are

said to have come to light, and the ministers, senators, and generals

unanimously condemned him to death, without stating the manner or time

of the same, and of course well knowing that the breath of the czar

could revoke their edict.

Whether Peter intended to save his son, or really to permit his

execution, is among those secrets which history can never pierce. The

sentence alone literally terrified Alexis to death! On hearing it

read, he fell into a fit, from the effects of which he never

recovered, although he regained his senses sufficiently to implore the

presence of his father. An interview was granted, at which it is said

both father and son shed tears; and finally, after receiving the

pardon of the czar, and the consolations of religion, the miserable

Alexis breathed his last in prison on the 7th of July.

The most absurd stories were current for a long time, and repeated

from mouth to mouth, and copied by one biographer after another. They

are still to be found in many otherwise grave authorities. The very

number and variety of these tales falsify them all. The czar was

accused of poisoning his son (sending openly one messenger after

another for the poison); other accounts say that he knouted him to

death with his own hands; others, that he cut off his head himself,

and had it privately stitched on again. The best argument against such

fables is, that if Peter really wished his son’s death, he had only to

let the so-called ‘course of justice’ have its way. Besides, the

circumstance of his receiving extreme unction, when on the point of

death, is a fact authenticated and established.

As may be imagined, Catherine did not escape her share of these

accusations; but all the evidence which remains tends to prove that,

so far from meriting them, she endeavored to incline her husband to

the side of mercy.

We are drawing near the close of the active and eventful life of Peter

the Great. We need not dwell upon his Persian campaign, in which,

after having found a pretext for a quarrel, because he wanted one, he

acquired those sunny provinces to the south of the Caspian, which

compensated for the loss of Azoph. ‘It is not land I want, but water,’

was his frequent exclamation, when studying the requirements of his

vast empire. The ruler who had first evinced his love of maritime

affairs by paddling a skiff upon the Yausa, and who had inherited only

a wild and barbarous inland country, was now the master of a

respectable navy, the lord of the sunny Caspian and of the icy Baltic.

After his return from Persia in 1722, we find him, as usual after any

lengthened absence, instituting examinations for mal-administration.

The vice-chancellor Schaffiroff, one of his favorites, was condemned

to death; but on the scaffold his punishment was commuted to

banishment. Menzikoff was sentenced to pay 200,000 rubles into the

exchequer, and was deprived of a great part of his income, and flogged

by the emperor’s own hand. For the infliction of this punishment Peter

used his _dubina_――a cane of thick Spanish reed. Several others were

disgraced, flogged, or heavily fined――thus at once showing the czar’s

impartiality, and proving how well he knew the impossibility of

reforming the masses while corruption existed in high places.

In July 1724, Peter again conducted a fleet against Sweden, to enforce

his claims on Sweden and Denmark in behalf of the duke of Holstein.

Having effected this purpose, he returned to Cronstadt, where he

celebrated, by a splendid parade, the creation of his navy, which now

consisted of forty-one ships of war, with 2106 cannon, and 14,960

seamen. It was on this occasion that he caused the little skiff we

have mentioned to be brought from Moscow, and to be consecrated by the

name of the Little Grandsire――the father of the Russian navy. This

little shallop is still preserved at St. Petersburg with almost

religious veneration.

The last years of this great monarch’s life were employed in providing

against the inundations to which his new capital was exposed in the

autumn, in continuing the Ladoga canal, and in the erection of an

academy of sciences. He turned his attention next to the examination

and punishment of state criminals; to the promotion of the labors of

the legislative body; and the establishment of the order of ‘Alexander

Newsky;’ the improvement of the condition of the monks; the banishment

of the Capuchins from Russia; and a new commercial treaty with Sweden.

He also betrothed his favorite daughter Anna to the duke of Holstein

in 1724, having already placed the crown, with great pomp, upon the

head of his wife Catherine on the 18th of the preceding May, in token

of his love and gratitude. He likewise provided that an education

should be given to the surviving son of the unhappy Alexis, such as

would become a future emperor of Russia――his only son by Catherine

having died, as before mentioned, when a child, in 1717.

Peter had been for a considerable time in a weak state of health; but

he owed the acceleration of his death to an act of humanity. Late in

the autumn of 1724, going to visit the forge and manufactory of arms

at Systerbeck he saw a boat filled with soldiers and sailors stranded,

and sent a shallop to assist, but which failed in the attempt.

Determined to gain his end, he set out for the spot himself; and as

his vessel could not quite reach the spot, he leaped into the water,

and waded to the boat, which he aided in getting off. A severe cold

followed this dangerous but humane act, and this, in addition to the

painful disorder from which he had long been suffering, brought on the

most fatal symptoms. These came on so suddenly at last, and his

sufferings were so great, that he was unable to make his last wishes

perfectly intelligible. There is, however, little or no doubt that he

intended to appoint his wife his successor. His words, so far as they

could be understood, expressed this; and on the very day of his death

she succeeded him without opposition. Catherine watched by his

bedside, without quitting him, for the last three nights of his life;

and he breathed his last in her arms January 28, 1725, being only in

his fifty-fourth year.

The reader of this brief biography may sum up the character of Peter

the Great more satisfactorily than we can do it for him; for different

minds will estimate differently his services to his country. That he

was a man of powerful and original genius, who did everything himself,

and was never the instrument of others, must be conceded on all hands.

His ardor was joined with prudence and resolution. His violent

passions and sensual excesses were the fruits of the barbarism of his

nation, his imperfect education, and uncontrolled power. His services

to a people so ignorant and barbarous were of the greatest possible

value; indeed all of good that Russia now enjoys may, without much

exaggeration, be ascribed to him. But, for him, or such as him, they

might have remained till now as rude and powerless as when he found

them. Among the Russians his name is venerated as it deserves to be.

St. Petersburg, the city of his love and of his creation――‘the western

portal of the empire’――is now a magnificent metropolis, with palaces,

arsenals, quays, bridges, academies, and temples, rising one beyond

another; albeit that the severity of its climate must forever be a

drawback to its many advantages.