The nearest province to our part of the world is that of Livonia, one of
the most fruitful in the whole North. In the twelfth century the
inhabitants were pagans; at this time certain merchants of Bremen and
Lubeck traded to this country, and a body of religious crusaders, called
_port-glaives_, or sword-bearers, who were afterwards incorporated in
the Teutonic order, made themselves masters of this province in the
thirteenth century, at the time when the fury of the crusades armed the
Christians against every one who was not of their religion. Albert,
margrave of Brandenburg, grand-master of these religious conquerors,
made himself sovereign of Livonia and of Brandenburg-Prussia, about the
year 1514. From that time, the Russians and Poles began to dispute for
the possession of this province. Soon afterwards it was invaded by the
Swedes, and for a long while continued to be ravaged by these several
powers. Gustavus Adolphus having conquered it, it was then ceded to the
Swedes in 1660, by the famous treaty of Oliva; and, at length, czar
Peter wrested it from these latter, as will be seen in the course of
this history.
Courland, which joins to Livonia, is still in vassalage to Poland,
though it depends greatly upon Russia. These are the western limits of
this empire in Christendom.
_Of the Governments of_ REVEL, PETERSBURG, _and_ WYBURG.
More northward is the government of Revel and Esthonia. Revel was built
by the Danes in the thirteenth century. The Swedes were in possession
of this province, from the time that country put itself under the
protection of that crown in 1561. This is another of the conquests of
Peter the Great.
On the borders of Esthonia lies the gulf of Finland. To the eastward of
this sea, and at the junction of the Neva with the lake Ladoga,[4] is
situated Petersburg, the most modern and best built city in the whole
empire, founded by czar Peter, in spite of all the united obstacles
which opposed its foundation.
This city is situated on the bay of Kronstat, in the midst of nine
rivers, by which its different quarters are divided. In the centre of
this city is almost an impregnable fortress, built on an island, formed
by the main-stream of the river Neva: seven canals are cut from the
rivers, and wash the walls of one of the royal palaces of the admiralty,
of the dock-yard for the galleys, and of several buildings of
manufactories. Thirty-five large churches contribute to adorn the city;
among which five are allotted for foreigners of the Roman Catholic,
Calvinist, and Lutheran religions: these are as so many temples raised
to toleration, and examples to other nations. There are five palaces;
the old one, called the summer palace, situated on the river Neva, has a
very large and beautiful stone balustrade, which runs all along the
river side. The new summer palace near the triumphal gate, is one of the
finest pieces of architecture in Europe. The admiralty buildings, the
school for cadets, the imperial college, the academy of sciences, the
exchange, and the merchants' warehouses, are all magnificent structures,
and monuments of taste and public utility. The town-house, the public
dispensary, where all the vessels are of porcelain, the court magazines,
the foundery, the arsenal, the bridges, the markets, the squares, the
barracks for the horse and foot guards, contribute at once to the
embellishment and safety of the city, which is said to contain at
present four hundred thousand souls. In the environs of the city are
several villas or country-seats, which surprise all travellers by their
magnificence. There is one in particular which has water-works superior
to those of Versailles. There was nothing of all this in 1702, the whole
being then an impassable morass. Petersburg is considered as the capital
of Ingria, a small province subdued by Peter I. Wyburg, another of his
conquests, and that part of Finland which was lost, and ceded by the
Swedes in 1742, make another government.