abolition of the landed nobility as a separate class. They would be
known as "_tchin_" or gentlemen, and any one who entered the service
of the government, regardless of birth, was at once entitled to be
classed among the _tchinovnik_. From that time the terms gentleman and
officer, became synonymous. Every service, civil, military, naval, or
ecclesiastic, was divided into fourteen grades. The lowest grade in
the civil service was held by the registrar of a college, the highest
by the Chancellor of the Empire; the cornet was at the bottom, the
field marshal at the top in the army; and the deacon in a church was
fourteen degrees removed from the Patriarch,--but all were _tchin_.
When, in 1700, the Patriarch Adrian died, the dignity was abolished by
Peter who did not relish the idea of a rival power in the State.
Instead he created the Holy Synod together with the office of
Superintendent of the Patriarchal Throne. He gives his reasons in the
ukase wherein the change is announced. "The simple people," this
document reads, "are not quick to seize the distinction between (p. 165)
the spiritual and imperial power; struck with the virtue and the
splendor of the supreme pastor of the Church, they imagine that he is
a second sovereign, equal and even superior in power to the Autocrat."
The Holy Synod consisted of bishops and a Procurator-general who
represented the czar and as such could veto any resolution. This
official was often a general. Every bishop had to keep a school in his
palace, and the sons of priests who refused to attend were taken as
soldiers. Autocrat though he was, Peter dared not confiscate the
property of the monasteries, but he forbade any person to enter a
convent before his thirtieth year. The monks were ordered to work at
some trade, or to teach in the schools and colleges. At this time, the
Protestant and Catholic churches of the West tried to make converts,
and the _raskols_ were hostile to the national church. As a rule Peter
did not favor persecution; so long as the church did not interfere
with his authority, there was nothing to fear from him; but upon the
slightest suspicion his heavy hand was felt. Thus, in 1710, he
suddenly ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits. He used to say: "God
has given the czar power over the nations, but Christ alone has power
over the conscience of man." This did not prevent him from exacting a
double tax from the raskols in Moscow, nor from punishing cruelly any
Russian converted to one of the western churches.
The great mass of the people suffered severely by Peter's reforms. The
peasants as tenants of the large landowners had enjoyed some liberty
and were legally free men; they were by him assigned to the soil,
which they were not permitted to leave. Thus they, too, passed into
serfdom. If the proprietor sold the estate, the rural population (p. 166)
went with it. The owners paid a poll-tax for their serfs. These
unfortunates could also be sold without the land, but the czar made a
law that "If the sale cannot be abolished completely, serfs must be
sold by families without separating husbands from wives, parents from
children, and no longer like cattle, a thing unheard of in the whole
world."
The citizens of towns were divided into three classes; to the first
class belonged bankers, manufacturers, rich merchants, physicians,
chemists, capitalists, jewelers, workers in metal, and artists;
storekeepers and master mechanics were in the second; all other people
belonged to the third. Foreigners could engage in business, acquire
real estate; but they could not depart from the country without paying
to the government one tenth of all they possessed.
Cities and towns were administered by burgomasters elected by the
citizens; this board selected its own president or mayor. If an
important question arose, representatives of the first two classes
were summoned for consultation. All the mayors of Russia were subject
to a magistrate selected from the Council of St. Petersburg, and
appointed by the czar. This official watched over the interests of
commerce and agriculture, settled disputes between citizens and
burgomasters, confirmed local elections, authorized executions when a
death sentence was pronounced by provincial authorities, and made
reports to the tsar.
The _voïevodes_ or governors of a province directed all the affairs of
their jurisdiction and disbursed the revenues as they thought (p. 167)
best. "Help yourself first!" was the unwritten law, and it was
universally obeyed. Peter divided his empire into forty-three
provinces, forming twelve governments each under a viceroy and deputy,
who were assisted by a council elected by the nobles.
The courts were crude and mediæval, but not more so than in the west
of Europe. Justice, such as it was, was administered by the General
Police Inspector, and in large cities there was a police officer for
every ten houses. Servants who failed to keep the house front clean
were punished with the knout. Peter created the Bureau of Information,
a court of secret police, and thus inaugurated the terrible spy system
which still disgraces Russia.
The douma was abolished, and in its stead Peter created a "Directory
Senate," which could meet only in presence of the czar. It was
originally composed of nine members, but it was afterwards increased
and at last embraced the duties of the Grand Council, the High Finance
Committee, and the Supreme Court. A fair idea of the moral and mental
condition of Russia's high aristocracy, may be had from a rule made by
Peter, forbidding the Senators under severe penalties, while in
session "to cry out, to beat each other, or to call one another
thieves."
Peter's visits to the west, taught him the value of factories. He gave
every possible inducement to foreign capital and skill to come to
Russia, and patronized home industry wherever he could, as by
purchasing the uniforms for army and navy from recently established
mills. Some of his methods appear strange, as, for instance, when he
ordered every town in Russia to send a stipulated number of shoemakers
to Moscow, to learn their trade. Those who continued to work in (p. 168)
the old fashion, were severely punished. The czar would have met with
greater success, if he had not been hampered by the cupidity of the
officials, who found means to secure the lion's share of the profits.
Peter discarded the old Slavonic alphabet and introduced the one used
at present. St. Petersburg had four printing presses, Moscow two, and
there were also some at Novgorod, Tchernigof, and other large places.
The first newspaper in Russia, the _St. Petersburg Gazette_, was
founded by him. He established, in 1724, the Academy of Sciences, in
imitation of the institution of that name of Paris.
St. Petersburg was founded in 1703. It was far from a promising site
for a new capital, the dreary wastes, dark forests, and marshes where
wild ducks and geese found a favorite feeding place. It was exposed to
frequent floods, and piles were needed before a building could be
erected. But when this autocrat had made up his mind, objections were
brushed aside. Peter collected 40,000 men, soldiers, Cossacks,
Kalmucks, Tartars and such natives as could be found, and put them to
work. At first he provided neither tools nor shelter, and food was
often scarce. Thousands of workmen died;--what did he care? Others
were compelled to take their place. The fortress of St. Peter and Paul
arose first; the czar himself was watching the progress from a little
wooden house on the right bank of the Neva. Men of means were forced
to build stone houses in the new capital. Swedish prisoners and
merchants from Novgorod were invited to move to St. Petersburg, and no
excuse was admitted. Goods could be brought only by boat, and no (p. 169)
boat was allowed to land unless it carried a certain number of white
stones to be used as building material. He erected churches, and
ordered that he should be buried in the Church of St. Peter and Paul.
Peter's domestic life, as we have seen, was not happy. After his
divorce from his first wife, he married Catherine who, in 1702, had
been made prisoner at Marienburg. It is not known where she was born,
but she was probably a native of Livonia, and was a servant in the
family of Pastor Glück and engaged to be married to a Swedish dragoon.
She became the property of Menzikoff who gave her to the czar. There
was a secret marriage which was confirmed by a public ceremony in
1712, in reward for her services at Pultowa. Peter also instituted the
Order "For Love and Fidelity," in her honor. A German princess
describes her thus:--"The czarina was small and clumsily made, very
much tanned, and without grace or air of distinction. You had only to
see her to know that she was lowborn. From her usual costume you would
have taken her for a German comedian. Her dress had been bought at a
secondhand shop; it was very old-fashioned, and covered with silver
and dirt. She had a dozen orders, and as many portraits of saints or
relics, fastened all down her dress, in such a way that when she
walked you would have thought by the jingling that a mule was
passing." She could neither read nor write, but she was sharp, had
natural wit, and obtained great influence over Peter. They had two
sons, Peter and Paul, who died in childhood, and two daughters, Anne
and Elizabeth. The former married the Duke of Holstein.
Alexis, the son by his first wife, was Peter's heir. He had grown (p. 170)
to be a young man before Peter realized that the result of all his
efforts depended upon his successor, and the czar began to pay
attention to his son's education when it was too late, when habits had
been formed. The czarévitch had imbibed the prejudices of his mother;
he was narrow-minded, lazy, weak, and obstinate, and associated with
people to whom Old Russia was Holy Russia, who abhorred reforms of
every kind. Peter sent him to travel in Germany, but the prince would
learn nothing. His father warned him in very plain terms. "Disquiet
for the future," he wrote to Alexis, "destroys the joy caused by my
present successes. I see that you despise everything that can make you
worthy to reign after me. What you call inability, I call rebellion,
for you cannot excuse yourself on the ground of the weakness of your
mind and the state of your health. We have struggled from obscurity
through the toil of war, which has taught other nations to know and
respect us, and yet you will not even hear of military exercises. If
you do not alter your conduct, know that I shall deprive you of my
succession. I have not spared, and I shall not spare, my own life for
my country; do you think that I shall spare yours? I would rather have
a stranger who is worthy for my heir, than a good-for-nothing member
of my own family."
Alexis should have known that his father was in terrible earnest, yet
he did not heed the warning. When Peter was traveling in Western
Europe, his son fled to Vienna, where he thought that he should be
safe. Finding that this was not so, he went to the Tyrol and
afterwards to Naples, but his father's agents traced him and one (p. 171)
of them, Tolstoï, secured an interview in which he assured the prince
of his father's pardon, and finally persuaded him to return to Moscow.
As soon as he arrived there, he was arrested. The czar convoked the
three Estates before whom he accused the czarévitch. Alexis was forced
to sign his resignation of the Crown. When he was being examined,
probably under torture, a widespread conspiracy was revealed. Peter
learned also that his son had begged the Emperor of Austria for armed
intervention, that he had negotiated with Sweden and that he had
encouraged a mutiny of the army in Germany. It was shown that his
divorced wife and several prelates were in the plot. Peter crushed his
enemies. Most of the persons involved suffered a cruel death, and
Alexis himself, after being punished with the knout, was sentenced to
die. Two days later his death was announced. It appears that on that
day, the heir to the throne was brought before a court composed of
nine men of the highest rank in Russia and that he was beaten with a
knout to secure further confessions, and that he expired under the
torture. Those present were sworn to secrecy, and kept the oath.
Peter, therefore, had no male heir. Alexis, however, had left a son
Peter by Charlotte of Brunswick whom he married against his will. In
1723 the czar ordered Catherine to be crowned as Empress. He had
established the right to select his successor but failed to do so,
owing to his sudden death.
The following description of Peter the Great at the age of forty, is
given by a Frenchman; "He was a very tall man, well made though (p. 172)
rather thin, his face somewhat round, with a broad forehead, beautiful
eyebrows, a short nose, thick at the end; his lips were rather thick,
his skin was brown and ruddy. He had splendid eyes, large, black,
piercing, and well-opened; his expression was dignified and gracious
when he liked, but often wild and stern, and his eyes, and indeed his
whole face, were distorted by an occasional twitch that was very
unpleasant. It lasted only a moment, and gave him a wandering and
terrible look, when he was himself again. His air expressed intellect,
thoughtfulness, and greatness, and had a certain grace about it. He
wore a linen collar, a round wig, brown and unpowdered, which did not
reach his shoulders; a brown, tight-fitting coat with gold buttons, a
vest, trousers, and stockings, and neither gloves nor cuffs; the star
of his order on his coat, and the ribbon underneath it; his coat was
often unbuttoned, his hat lay on the table, and was never on his head,
even out of doors. In this simplicity, however shabby might be his
carriage or scanty his suit, his natural greatness could not be
mistaken."
XX--THE SUCCESSORS OF PETER THE GREAT. (p. 173)
Peter's strong hand had stifled the opposition to his reforms, but
with his death it reappeared. There were, therefore, two parties in
Russia: the men who had assisted the dead czar, Menzikoff, Apraxine,
Tolstoï, and others, such as the members of the secret Court who had
witnessed the violent death of Peter's only son. They dreaded the
succession of Peter's grandson, the boy who, although only twelve
years old, might order an investigation of his father's death. These
men held the power and decided that, since Catherine had been crowned
as Empress, it was she who should succeed. Thus the former maid
servant, not even a native Russian, became Empress of all the Russias.
There were some protests in favor of Peter's grandson, but they were
disregarded.
Menzikoff who was the cause of Catherine's rise, fancied himself
all-powerful, and there was jealousy among Peter's associates.
Menzikoff sent one of them, Tolstoï, to Siberia, but Catherine would
not consent to the punishment of the other friends of the late czar.
She was honest in carrying out Peter's unfinished projects. He had
planned the marriage of his daughter Anne to the Duke of Holstein: the
wedding took place; he intended to send an exploring expedition to
Kamtschatka; she engaged the services of a Danish captain, Bering, (p. 174)
who discovered the sea and strait named after him. The Academy of
Sciences was opened in 1726. She, however, changed the Senate into a
Secret High Council, which met under the presidency of the empress.
Catherine died in 1727, and on her deathbed appointed Peter's
grandson, then fourteen years old, as her successor. In case of his
death, the throne would go to Anne, and next to Elizabeth. During his
minority these two daughters assisted by the Duke of Holstein,
Menzikoff, and some other high officers, would constitute a Board of
Regents.
Menzikoff had taken precautions. He had obtained her consent that the
young heir, Peter II, should marry one of his daughters, a young lady
two years older than the boy. He showed, in his letters to Peter, that
he looked upon him as his son. He also intended his own son to marry
the boy's sister Natalia. There was one member of Peter the Great's
family who did not approve of Menzikoff's schemes, Elizabeth, the
young czar's aunt, then seventeen years old. Not long after
Catherine's death, Menzikoff fell ill; he was compelled to keep to his
rooms, and in that time Elizabeth roused her nephew's suspicions.
Peter left Menzikoff's palace and when Catherine's favorite tried to
resume his authority, he was arrested and exiled to his estates. Soon
after he was sent to Siberia, where he died two years later, in 1729.
The Dolgorouki family succeeded, but its head committed the same
mistakes, besides showing a tendency to undo the work of Peter the
Great. The young czar was growing weary of the Dolgorouki when, in (p. 175)
January 1730, he caught cold and died after a brief illness.
It was during his short reign that Prussia, Austria, and Russia, first
seriously discussed the partition of Poland. A treaty was signed
between Prussia and Russia whereby the two powers agreed to select and
support a candidate for the throne of that kingdom which was to
illustrate the truth that "a kingdom divided against itself cannot
exist."
Peter's death left Russia without a male heir. There were, as we have
seen, two daughters from his marriage with Catherine. Anne, who had
married the Duke of Holstein, had died in 1728, leaving a son also
named Peter. Elizabeth, the other daughter, was in St. Petersburg,
quietly engaged in establishing a party of her own. There were,
besides, two other parties having claims upon the throne. Ivan, the
weak-minded half-brother of Peter the Great, had been married and had
left two daughters, Anne, Duchess of Courland, and Catherine, Duchess
of Mecklenburg.
The decision rested with the Secret High Council. Dolgorouki's claim,
that Peter II had made a secret will leaving the throne to his bride,
was laughed to scorn. The members of the High Council saw an
opportunity to secure most of the autocratic power for themselves, and
resolved to offer the throne to Anne of Courland, provided that she
subscribed to the following conditions: That the Secret High Council
should always consist of eight members, all vacancies to be filled by
themselves; that she could make neither war nor peace, nor appoint an
officer above the rank of colonel, without the consent of the (p. 176)
Council; that she could not condemn a noble to death, nor confiscate
his property, without a trial; and that she could neither appoint a
successor, nor marry again without the approval of the Council. She
was also to sign an agreement whereby she would forfeit the crown "in
case of my ceasing to observe these engagements." The Council also
decided upon moving the capital back to Moscow.
This might have been the beginning of a more liberal government for
Russia, since it diminished the power of the czar and the people would
have benefited by the increased rights of the nobles, as was the case
in England. It was the nobility who objected, from fear that the power
might be absorbed in the families of the Council members. Anne of
Courland accepted the conditions and came to Moscow. There she
received letters from the enemies of the Council imploring her to
disregard her promises. On the 25th of February, 1731, the Council was
in session when an officer appeared summoning them before the czarina.
Upon arrival in the apartment, they found about eight hundred persons
presenting a petition that Anne might restore autocracy. She read it
and seemed astonished: "What!" she exclaimed, "the conditions sent to
me at Mittau were not the will of the people?" There was a shout of
"No! no!" "Then," she said, addressing the Council, "you have deceived
me!" Anne was a true daughter of the czars. She began by exiling the
principal members of the Council to their estates; when she saw that
there was no opposition, they were sent to Siberia; and when no one
remonstrated, other members were condemned to a cruel death.
Anne was thirty-five years old when she was crowned as czarina. (p. 177)
She had been in Germany so long that she preferred to surround herself
with Germans who did serve her well, but they naturally aroused the
jealousy and hatred of the Russian nobles. In 1733, Augustus II, King
of Poland, died. Russia, Prussia, and France, each had a candidate.
Austria and Russia favored Augustus III of Saxony, and Louis XV of
France supported his father-in-law Stanislas Lecszinski.
This candidate secretly proceeded to Warsaw, where he was elected by a
vote of 60,000 against 4,000. A Russian army crossed the frontier,
whereupon Stanislas withdrew to Dantzig and the Russians proclaimed
Augustus III. The war spread and a Russian army of 20,000 men advanced
as far as Heidelberg in Baden. It ended in 1735, by the Peace of
Vienna, but Russia became involved in a war with Turkey, as an ally of
Austria.
In 1736, the Russians took Azof and ravaged the western Crimea. In the
following year they laid waste its eastern part, and in 1739 they
gained a great victory at Savoutchani. Austria was not anxious to have
Russia as a close neighbor, and arranged the Peace of Belgrade.
(1739.) Russia surrendered all the conquests, except a small tongue of
land between the Dnieper and the Bug. Sweden threatened war, but it
was averted. The following year, 1740, Anne died, leaving the throne
to her infant son, Ivan of Brunswick.
Anne Ivanovna introduced western luxury into Russia. Prior to her
arrival, fashions were unknown, and people used to wear their clothes
until they were worn out. Soon after restoring autocracy, she (p. 178)
returned to St. Petersburg where she endeavored to establish a court
in imitation of that of France. She could compel her nobles to appear
in the costume of the west, and, unless they were very wealthy, make
them sacrifice estates and serfs to pay his increased expenses, but of
the refinement which creates fashion, there was none. One of her
guests, a procurator-general was so intoxicated at one of her
receptions that he insulted one of Anne's most trusted advisers; she
was a witness, but only laughed heartily.
The young nobles benefited by the German influence at Court, since
they received a better education. A law was made requiring them to
study from their seventh to their twentieth year, and to serve the
government from that age until they were forty-five. Between the age
of twelve and sixteen they were made to appear before an examining
board, and any one failing to pass the second time in catechism,
arithmetic, and geometry, was put into the navy. In the schools for
young nobles,--the serfs received no instruction of any kind,--the
course of studies was enlarged after the German system.
Anne's infant son, Ivan, was three months old, when he succeeded to
the throne as Ivan VI. Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great and
Catherine, was twenty-eight years old; tall and masculine, bright and
bold, daring on horseback as well as on the water, she had made a host
of friends among the high officials and the Guards. She found an able
adviser in the French Minister at St. Petersburg who was anxious to
destroy the influence of Germany. The Swedes went so far as to begin
a war, proclaiming the desire to deliver "the glorious Russian (p. 179)
nation" from the German yoke. Elizabeth decided that the time had come
to act, when the regiments devoted to her were ordered to the
frontier. In the night of October 25, 1741, she went with three
friends to the barracks. "Boys," she said to the men, "you know whose
daughter I am?" "Matuska," (little mother), they replied, "we are
ready; we will kill all of them." She said that she did not wish any
blood to be shed, and added: "I swear to die for you; will _you_ swear
to die for me?" They made the oath. When she returned to the palace,
the regent, the infant czar, and the German members of the Government
were arrested. Ivan VI was sent to a fortress near the Swedish
frontier. The Germans were brought before a court and condemned to
death, but Elizabeth commuted the sentence to exile. After this she
went to Moscow, where she was crowned as czarina. Her next act was to
send for her nephew, Peter, the son of her sister Anne of Holstein. He
came and entered the Greek Church, when he was proclaimed as heir to
the throne as Peter Feodorovitch.
Sweden demanded the cession of the territory conquered by Peter the
Great, and, since Elizabeth refused, the war continued. But Sweden was
no longer the kingdom of Charles XII; the Russians were everywhere
victorious, and by the Peace of Abo, in 1743, Sweden ceded South
Finland and agreed to elect Elizabeth's ally, Adolphus of Holstein, as
heir to the throne.