[1] A French league contains three English miles.
[2] The Boristhenes, or Dnieper, is one of the largest rivers in Europe;
it rises in the Walchonske Forest, runs through Lithuania, the country
of the Zoporag Cossacks, and that of the Nagisch Tartars, and falls into
the Black Sea near Oczakow. It has thirteen cataracts within a small
distance.
[3] The reader will easily perceive, that the whole of this paragraph
relates only to the French language, for in English we make no such
distinctions in the name of these people, but always call them Russians.
[4] A collection of water lying between the gulf of Finland and lake
Onega; it is the largest, and said to contain a greater number of fish
than any other in Europe.
[5] We must not confound this river with another of the same name that
runs through Lithuania in Poland, and dividing Livonia and Courland,
falls into the Baltic at Dunamunder fort, below Riga.
[6] This was by the ancients reckoned among the most famous rivers in
the world, and the boundary between Asia and Europe. It issues from St.
John's Lake, not far from Tula, and after a long course, divides itself
into three arms, and falls into the sea below Azoph.
[7] A promontory of the island of Maggero in the north of Norway, and is
the most northern point in Europe.
[8] Grod, or gorod, signifies city in the Russian language.
[9] Memoirs of Strahlemberg, confirmed by those sent me from Russia.
[10] Memoirs sent from Petersburg.
[11] Memoirs sent from Petersburg.
[12] Called also the Ob. This large river issues from the lake Altin in
Calmuck Tartary, in Asia, from whence running north it forms the
boundary between Europe and Asia, and after traversing a vast tract of
above two thousand miles, it falls into a bay of the Frozen Sea.
[13] In the Russian language Irtish. This river runs from N. to S.
through all Russia, and falling into the former river, forms part of the
boundary between Asia and Europe.
[14] In the Russian language Tobolsky.
[15] His name was Sowastowslaw.
[16] This anecdote is taken from a private MS. entitled 'The
Ecclesiastical Government of Russia,' which is like wise deposited in
the public library.
[17] See page 35.
[18] Thus the Russians call this young man; but in all French authors we
find Romano, that language having no such letter as the W; others again
call him Romanoff.
[19] Or Chotsin, a town of Upper Moldavia in European Turkey, well
fortified both by nature and art, situated on the Dniester, and subject
to the Turks, from whom it was taken by the Russians in 1739.
[20] This must certainly be a mistake of M. de Voltaire, or an error in
the press; for the lady here spoken of was the daughter of Matthias
Apraxim, a person on whom Theodore had lately conferred nobility.
[21] Extracted wholly from the memoirs sent from Moscow and Petersburg.
[22] Here M. de Voltaire seems to have greatly mistaken the sense of
this word. Raspop not being a proper name, in which sense he takes it,
but signifies a degraded priest.
[23] We suppose the author means Moscow.
[24] Or Cossano, a small town and abbey in the Milanese. On the Adda,
near this place, an obstinate battle was fought between the Germans and
French, in 1705, when prince Eugene defeated the duke of Vendome.
[25] A town and abbey on the borders of Westphalia, in Germany; the
abbot of which is a sovereign prince, and has a seat in the imperial
diet.
[26] Or Fuld, a town and abbey of Hesse, in Germany; situate on a river
of the same name. It is governed by an abbot, who is a prince of the
empire.
[27] An imperial city of Suabia, in Germany, situate on the Ifar.
[28] How are we to reconcile this with what the author tells us in the
latter part of the third chapter, where he says, that this princess,
perceiving that her brother Theodore was near his end, declined retiring
to a convent, as was the usual custom of the princesses of the imperial
family.
[29] We find, in the memoirs of count Strahlemberg, a Swedish officer,
who was taken prisoner at the battle of Pultowa, and continued many
years at the court of czar Peter, the following account of the true
cause of this extraordinary kind of hydrophobia. When Peter was about
five years of age, his mother took him with her in a coach for an
airing, and having to pass a dam, where there was a great fall of water
the child, who was then sleeping in his nurse's lap, was so terrified by
the rushing of the water (the noise of which waked him suddenly out of
his sleep), that he was seized with a violent fever, and, after his
recovery, he retained such a dread of that element, that he could not
bear the sight even of any standing water, much less to hear a running
stream.
[30] Memoirs of Petersburg and Moscow.
[31] This should certainly be four years; as we can hardly suppose a boy
of fourteen years and a half, would be received into the military
service of any country, and much less by the Dutch at that period of
time, when they stood in need of able and experienced soldiers, to
withstand the attacks of the French, who breathed nothing less than the
utter subversion of their state.
[32] General Le Fort's MSS.
[33] General Le Fort's MSS.
[34] Extracted from memoirs sent from China; also from Petersburg, and
from letters published in Du Halde's History of China.
[35] A famous and considerable river of the Asiatic part of the empire
of Russia, which falls into the eastern ocean. It was formerly called
Charan Muran, but at present the Chinese and Mauschurs give it the name
of Sagalin Ula. It also bears the several appellations of Jamur, Onon,
Helong, Kiang, and Skilka. It is formed by the junction of the rivers
Sckilk and Argun, and is navigable to the sea.
[36] Busching, the famous geographer, says, that its whole length is no
more than four hundred miles, so that there must be a very great error
in one or other of these authors.
[37] Memoirs of the jesuits Pereira and Gerbillon.
[38] 1689, Sept. 8, new style. Memoirs of China.
[39] The present reigning empress Catharine seems even to exceed her
aunt in lenity, which together with the superior qualifications of this
princess, affords her people the most happy presage of a glorious reign;
and it is not without reason, that the most sensible amongst them
flatter themselves with the hope, that under this august princess, the
Russian empire will arrive at its highest pinnacle of glory.
[40] Le Fort's Memoirs.
[41] It is in consequence of this glorious and equitable distinction,
that at this day we find nobility gives no precedence in the court of
Russia; nor can the son of a prince appear there in any other rank, than
that which his situation in the army gives him; while a private citizen,
who by his merit has raised himself above his condition, receives all
the honours due to his post; or more properly speaking, to the merit
which obtained him that post. A reputation of this kind would, methinks,
be attended with great advantages, both in England and France, as it
would be a means to raise in the youth of all ranks, a virtuous and
noble emulation.
[42] General Le Fort's MSS.
[43] The Petersburg Memoirs, and Memoirs of Le Fort.
[44] Le Fort's MS. memoirs.
[45] Precop, or Perekop, once a fortress on the Isthmus, which joins the
peninsula of Crim Tartary to the main land of little Tartary, in
European Turkey, and thence considered as the key to that country. It
has its name from the ditches cut across for the defence of the
peninsula.
[46] These were two scholars from Christ Church Hospital, commonly
called blue coat boys.
[47] The czar was particularly fond of this nobleman, because he was a
great lover of maritime affairs, frequently rowed and sailed with him
upon the water, and gave him what information he could concerning
shipping.
[48] Le Fort's MSS. and those of Petersburg.
[49] Le Fort's MSS.
[50] A most extraordinary instance of the obstinate attachment of the
Russians to their old customs, happened in the time of the czar
Bassilowitz, and undoubtedly influenced him not a little in the severity
with which he treated his people. The king of Poland, Stephen Battori,
having recovered Livonia, went himself into that province to establish a
new form of government. According to the constant custom there, when any
peasant, all of whom were treated as slaves, had committed a fault, he
was whipped with a rod till the blood came. The king was willing to
commute this barbarous punishment for one that was more moderate; but
the peasants, insensible of the favour designed them, threw themselves
at his feet, and intreated him not to make any alterations in their
ancient customs, because they had experienced, that all innovations, far
from procuring them the least redress, had always made their burthens
sit the heavier on them.
[51] Memoirs of captain Perry, the engineer, employed by Peter the
Great, in Russia, and MSS. of Le Fort.
[52] Captain Perry, in p. 184 of his memoirs, says, that these
executions being performed in the depth of winter, their bodies were
immediately frozen; those who were beheaded, were ordered to be left in
the same posture as when executed, in ranks upon the ground, with their
heads lying by them: and those who were hanged round the three walls of
the city, were left hanging the whole winter, to the view of the people,
till the warm weather began to come on in the spring, when they were
taken down and buried together in a pit, to prevent infection. This
author adds, that there were other gibbets placed on all the public
roads leading to Moscow, where others of these rebels were hanged.
[53] MSS. of Le Fort.
[54] Somewhat like those of our blue coat boys in England.
[55] 20th Sept. 1698. It is to be observed, that I always follow the new
style in my dates.
[56] Norberg, chaplain and confessor to Charles XII. says, in his
history, 'That he had the insolence to complain of oppressions, and that
he was condemned to lose his honour and life.' This is speaking like the
high-priest of despotism. He should have observed, that no one can
deprive a citizen of his honour for doing his duty.
[57] See the History of Charles XII.
[58] A town on the river Lycus, in the province of Assyria, now called
Curdestan, where Alexander the Great fought his third and decisive
battle, with Darius, king of Persia.
[59] Vol. I. p. 439, of the 4to. edition, printed at the Hague.
[60] The chaplain Norberg, pretends, that, immediately after the battle
of Narva, the Grand Seignior wrote a letter of congratulation to the
king of Sweden, in these terms. 'The sultan Basha, by the grace of God,
to Charles XII. &c.' The letter was dated from the æra of the creation
of the world.
[61] See History of Charles XII.
[62] This chapter and the following, are taken entirely from the journal
of Peter the Great, sent me from Petersburg.
[63] We must beg leave to remark in this place, that a king of England
has the power of doing good in virtue of his own authority, and may do
evil if so disposed, by having a majority in a corrupt parliament;
whereas, a king of Poland can neither do good nor evil, not having it in
his power to dispose even of a pair of colours.
[64] This seems a mistake; our author probably meant to say Kercholme,
because Wibourg is not on the lake Ladoga, but on the gulf of Finland.
[65] Taken from the journal of Peter the Great.
[66] Some writers call it Nyenschantz.
[67] Petersburg was founded on Whitsunday, the 27th May, 1703.
[68] About sixty thousand pounds sterling.
[69] All the foregoing chapters, and likewise those which follow, are
taken from the journals of Peter the Great, and the papers sent me from
Petersburg, carefully compared with other memoirs.
[70] Menzikoff's parents were vassals of the monastery of Cosmopoly: at
the age of thirteen, he went to Moscow, and was taken into the service
of a pastry-cook. His employment was singing ballads, and crying puffs
and cakes about the streets. One day, as he was following this
occupation, the czar happening to hear him, and to be diverted with one
of his songs, sent for him, and asked him if he would sell his pies and
his basket? The boy answered, that his business was to sell his pies,
but he must ask his master's leave to sell his basket; yet as every
thing belonged to his prince, his majesty had only to lay his commands
upon him. The czar was so pleased with this answer, that he immediately
ordered him to court, where he gave him at first a mean employment; but
being every day more pleased with his wit, he thought fit to place him
about his person, and to make him groom of his bed-chamber, from whence
he gradually raised him to the highest preferments. He was tall and well
shaped. At his first coming into the czar's service, he inlisted in Le
Fort's company, and acquired, under that general's instruction, such a
degree of knowledge and skill, as enabled him to command armies, and to
become one of the bravest and most successful generals in Russia.
[71] M. de Voltaire calls this city Wibourg, in this and some other
places of his history. The French are not always very attentive to the
right names of places, but here it is of some consequence. Wibourg is
the capital of Jutland in Denmark. Wiburn, the city here meant, is the
capital of Carelia in Russian Finland.
[72] The czar's manifesto in the Ukraine, 1709.
[73] The impartiality of an historian obliges us in this place to
advertise our readers, that it was not the fault of Augustus, that
Patkul was delivered up to the king of Sweden; Augustus having privately
sent orders to the commandant of the fort of Konigstein, where Patkul
was then confined, to suffer his prisoner to make his escape in time.
But the avarice of this officer proved fatal to the life of the unhappy
captive, and to the character of his own prince; for while he was
endeavouring to make the best bargain he could for himself, the time
slipped inconceivably away; and while they were yet debating upon the
price of the proposed releasement, the guards sent by Charles came and
demanded Patkul in the name of their sovereign. The commandant was
forced to obey, and the unhappy victim was delivered up, contrary to the
intentions of Augustus.
[74] What would those Swedes say, were they living, to see the pitiful
figure their descendants have made in this war.
[75] In the Russian language, Soeza.
[76] This is acknowledged by Norberg himself, vol. ii. p. 263.
[77] Vol. II. page 279.
[78] The Memoirs of Peter the Great, by the pretended boyard Iwan
Nestesuranoy, printed at Amsterdam, in 1730, say, that the king of
Sweden, before he passed the Boristhenes, sent a general officer with
proposals of peace to the czar. The four volumes of these Memoirs are
either a collection of untruths and absurdities, or compilations from
common newspapers.
[79] This fact is likewise found in a letter, printed before the
Anecdotes of Russia, p. 23.
[80] La Motraye, in the relation of his travels, quotes a letter from
Charles XII. to the grand vizier; but this letter is false, as are most
of the relations of that mercenary writer; and Norberg himself
acknowledges that the king of Sweden never could be prevailed on to
write to the grand vizier.
[81] The czar, says the preface to lord Whitworth's account of Russia,
who had been absolute enough to civilize savages, had no idea, could
conceive none, of the privileges of a nation civilized in the only
rational manner by laws and liberties. He demanded immediate and severe
punishment of the offenders: he demanded it of a princess, whom he
thought interested, to assert the sacredness of the persons of monarchs,
even in their representatives; and he demanded it with threats of
wreaking his vengeance on all English merchants and subjects established
in his dominions. In this light the menaces were formidable; otherwise,
happily, the rights of the whole people were more sacred here than the
persons of foreign ministers. The czar's memorials urged the queen with
the satisfaction which she herself had extorted, when only the boat and
servants of the earl of Manchester had been insulted at Venice. That
state had broken through the fundamental laws, to content the queen of
Great Britain. How noble a picture of government, when a monarch, that
can force another nation to infringe its constitution, dare not violate
his own? One may imagine with what difficulty our secretaries of state
must have laboured through all the ambages of phrase in English, French,
German, and Russ, to explain to Muscovite ears and Muscovite
understandings, the meaning of indictments, pleadings, precedents,
juries, and verdicts; and how impatiently Peter must have listened to
promises of a hearing next term? With what astonishment must he have
beheld a great queen, engaging to endeavour to prevail on her parliament
to pass an act to prevent any such outrage for the future? What honour
does it not reflect on the memory of that princess to own to an
arbitrary emperor, that even to appease him she dare not put the meanest
of her subjects to death uncondemned by law!--There are, says she, in
one of her dispatches to him, insuperable difficulties, with respect to
the ancient and fundamental laws of the government of our people; which
we fear do not permit so severe and rigorous a sentence to be given, as
your imperial majesty at first seemed to expect in this case; and we
persuade ourself, that your imperial majesty, who are a prince famous
for clemency and exact justice, will not require us, who are the
guardian and protectress of the laws, to inflict a punishment upon our
subjects, which the law does not impower us to do. Words so venerable
and heroic, that this broil ought to become history, and be exempted
from the oblivion due to the silly squabbles of ambassadors and their
privileges. If Anne deserved praise for her conduct on this occasion, it
reflects still greater glory on Peter, that this ferocious man should
listen to these details, and had moderation and justice enough to be
persuaded by the reason of them.
[82] Afterwards created lord Whitworth, by king George I.
[83] The account this chaplain gives of the demands of the grand
seignior is equally false and puerile. He says, that sultan Achmet,
previous to his declaring war against the czar, sent to that prince a
paper, containing the conditions on which he was willing to grant him
peace. These conditions, Norberg tells us, were as follows: 'That Peter
should renounce his alliance with Augustus, reinstate Stanislaus in the
possession of the crown of Poland, restore all Livonia to Charles XII.,
and pay that prince the value in ready money of what he had taken from
him at the battle of Pultowa; and, lastly, that the czar should demolish
his newly-built city of Petersburg.' This piece was forged by one
Brazey, a half-starved pamphleteer, and author of a work entitled,
Memoirs, Satirical, Historical, and Entertaining. It was from this
fountain Norberg drew his intelligence; and however he may have been the
confessor of Charles XII. he certainly does not appear to have been his
confidant.
[84] The new vizier embraced every opportunity of affronting the czar,
in the person of his envoy, and particularly in giving the French
ambassador the preference. It was customary, on the promotion of the
grand vizier, for all the foreign ministers to request an audience of
congratulation. Count Tolstoy was the first who demanded that audience;
but was answered--That the precedence had always been given to the
ambassador of France: whereupon Tolstoy informed the vizier--That he
must be deprived of the pleasure of waiting on him at all: which, being
maliciously represented, as expressing the utmost contempt of his
person, and the khan of Tartary being at the same time instigated to
make several heavy complaints against the conduct of the Russians on the
frontiers, count Tolstoy was immediately committed to the castle of the
Seven Towers.
[85] It is very strange that so many writers always confound Walachia
and Moldavia together.
[86] This duke of Holstein, at the time he married the daughter of Peter
I. was a prince of very inconsiderable power, though of one of the most
ancient houses in Germany. His ancestors had been stripped of great part
of their dominions by the kings of Denmark; so that, at the time of this
marriage, he found himself greatly circumscribed in point of
possessions; but, from this epoch of his alliance with the czar of
Muscovy, we may date the rise of the ducal branch of Holstein, which now
fills the thrones of Russia and Sweden, and is likewise in possession of
the bishopric of Lubec, which, in all probability, will fall to this
house, notwithstanding the late election, which at present is the
subject of litigation, the issue of which will, to all appearance,
terminate in favour of the prince, son to the present bishop, through
the protection of the courts of Vienna and Petersburg. The empress
Catherine, who now sits on the throne of Russia is herself descended
from this august house, by the side of her mother, who was sister to the
king of Sweden, to the prince-bishop of Lubec, and to the famous prince
George of Holstein, whose achievements made so much noise during the
war. This princess, whose name was Elizabeth, married the reigning
prince of Anbak Zerbst, whose house was indisputably the most ancient;
and, in former times, the most powerful in all Germany, since they can
trace their pedigree from the dukes of Ascania, who were formerly
masters of the two electorates of Saxony and Brandenburg, as appears by
their armorial bearings, which are, quarterly, the arms of Saxony and
Brandenburg. Of this branch of Zerbst there is remaining only the
present reigning prince, brother to the empress Catherine, who, in case
he should die without issue, will succeed to the principality of Yevern,
in East Friesland; from all which it appears already, that the family of
Holstein is at present the most powerful in Europe, as being in
possession of three crowns in the North.--[Since the above was written
important changes have taken place.]
[87] This same count Poniatowsky, who was at that time in the service of
Charles XII., died afterwards castellan of Cracovia, and first senator
of the republic of Poland, after having enjoyed all the dignities to
which a nobleman of that country can attain. His connexions with Charles
XII. during that prince's retirement at Bender, first made him taken
notice of; and, it is to be wished, for the honour of his memory, that
he had waited till the conclusion of a peace between Sweden and Poland,
to be reconciled to king Augustus; but following the dictates of
ambition, rather than those of strict honour, he sacrificed the
interests of both Charles and Stanislaus, to the care of his own
fortune; and, while he appeared the most zealous in their cause, he
secretly did them all the ill services he could at the Ottoman Porte: to
this double dealing he owed the immense fortune of which he was
afterwards possessed. He married the princess Czartoriski, daughter of
the castellan of Vilna, a lady, for her heroic spirit, worthy to have
been born in the times of ancient Rome: when her eldest son, the present
grand chamberlain of the crown, had that famous dispute with Count
Tarlo, palatine of Lublin; a dispute which made so much noise in all the
public papers in the year 1742, this lady, after having made him shoot
at a mark every day, for three weeks, in order to be expert at firing,
said to him, as he was mounting his horse, to go to meet his
adversary--'Go, my son; but, if you do not acquit yourself with honour
in this affair, never appear before me again.' This anecdote may serve
as a specimen of the character of our heroine. The family of Czartoriski
is descended from the ancient Jagellins, who were, for several ages, in
lineal possession of the crown of Poland; and is, at this day, extremely
rich and powerful, by the alliances it has contracted, but they have
never been able to acquire popularity; and so long as count Tarlo (who
was killed in a duel with the young count Poniatowsky) lived, had no
influence in the dictines, or lesser assembly of the states, because
Tarlo, who was the idol of the nobles, and a sworn enemy to the
Czartoriski family, carried every thing before him, and nothing was done
but according to his pleasure.
[88] About seventy pounds sterling.
[89] French money, which is always counted by livres and makes about
three millions sterling.
[90] A town in Bohemia famous for its mineral springs.
[91] About fifty thousand pounds sterling.
[92] Private memoirs of Bassowitz, Jan. 21, 1712.
[93] A town of Sleswic, in Denmark, situated on the river Eyder,
fourteen miles from the German Ocean, having a very commodious harbour.
[94] About twelve hundred pounds sterling.
[95] In the preamble to this institution, the czar declared, that it was
to perpetuate the memory of her love in his distressed condition on the
banks of the river Pruth. He invested her with full power to bestow it
on such of her own sex as she should think proper. The ensigns of this
order are, a broad white riband, and wore over the right shoulder, with
a medal of St. Catherine, adorned with precious stones, and the motto,
'Out of love and fidelity.'
[96] Inhabitants of a small town of Hungarian Dalmatia, with a harbour,
from whence the neighbouring sea takes the name of Golfo di Bickariga.
[97] The conspiracy carried on in France by cardinal Alberoni, was
discovered in a very singular manner. The Spanish ambassador's
secretary, who used frequently to go to the house of one La Follon, a
famous procuress of Paris, to amuse himself for an hour or two after the
fatigues of business, had appointed a young nymph, whom he was fond of,
to meet him there at nine o'clock in the evening, but did not come to
her till near two o'clock in the morning. The lady, as may be supposed,
reproached him with the little regard he paid to her charms, or his own
promise; but he excused himself, by saying, that he had been obliged to
stay to finish a long dispatch in ciphers, which was to be sent away
that very night by a courier to Spain: so saying, he undressed and threw
himself into bed, where he quietly fell asleep. In pulling off his
clothes, he had, by accident, dropped a paper out of his pocket, which,
by its bulk, raised in the nymph that curiosity so natural to her sex.
She picked it up, and read it partly over, when the nature of its
contents made her resolve to communicate them to La Follon: accordingly,
she framed some excuse for leaving the room, and immediately went to the
apartment of the old lady, and opened her budget. La Follon, who was a
woman of superior understanding to most in her sphere, immediately saw
the whole consequence of the affair; and, after having recommended to
the girl, to amuse her gallant as long as possible, she immediately went
to waken the regent, to whom she had access at all hours, for matters of
a very different nature to the present. This prince, whose presence of
mind was equal to every exigency, immediately dispatched different
couriers to the frontiers; in consequence of which, the Spanish
ambassador's messenger was stopped at Bayonne, and his dispatches taken
from him; upon deciphering of which, they were found exactly to agree
with the original delivered to the regent by La Follon: upon this the
prince of Cellamar, the Spanish ambassador was put under an arrest, and
all his papers seized; after which he was sent under a strong guard to
the frontiers, where they left him to make the best of his way to his
own country. Thus an event, which would have brought the kingdom of
France to the verge of destruction, was frustrated by a votary of Venus,
and a priestess of the temple of pleasure.
[98] As these letters and answers afford the most striking evidence of
the czar's prudence, and the prince's insincerity, and will convey to
the reader a clear idea of the grounds and motives of this extraordinary
transaction, we have inserted the following translation of them. The
first letter from the czar to his son, is dated the 27th of October,
1715, and displays a noble spirit of religion, with the most ardent
desire of leaving a successor who should perpetuate his name and glory
to future ages.
'Son,' says the czar to him, 'you cannot be ignorant of what is known to
all the world, that our people groaned under the oppression of the
Swedes, before the beginning of this present war. By the usurped
possession of many of our maritime ports, so necessary to our state,
they cut us off from all commerce with the rest of mankind; and we saw,
with deep regret, that they had even cast a mist over the eyes of
persons of the greatest discernment, who tamely brooked their slavery,
and made no complaints to us. You know how much it cost us at the
beginning of this war, to make ourselves thoroughly experienced, and
to stand our ground in spite of all the advantages which our
irreconcileable enemies gained over us. The Almighty alone has conducted
us by his hand, and conducts us still. We submitted to that probationary
state with resignation to the will of God, not doubting but it was he
who made us pass through it: he has accepted our submission; and the
same enemy, before whom we were wont to tremble, now trembles before us.
These are effects, which, under God's assistance, we owe to our labour,
and those of our faithful and affectionate sons, and Russian subjects.
But while I survey the successes with which God has blessed our arms, if
I turn my eyes on the posterity that is to succeed me, my soul is
pierced with anguish; and I have no enjoyment of my present happiness,
when I carry my views into futurity. All my felicity vanishes away like
a dream, since you, my son, reject all means of rendering yourself
capable of governing well after me. Your incapacity is voluntary; for
you cannot excuse yourself from want of genius: it is inclination alone
you want. Far less can you plead the want of bodily strength, as if God
had not furnished you sufficiently in that respect: for though your
constitution be none the strongest, it cannot be reckoned weak. Yet you
will not so much as hear of warlike exercises; though it is by those
means we are risen from that obscurity in which we were buried, and have
made ourselves known to the nations about us, whose esteem we now enjoy.
I am far from desiring you to cherish in yourself a disposition to make
war for its own sake, and without just reasons: all I demand of you is,
that you would apply yourself to learn the military art; because,
without understanding the rules of war, it is impossible to be qualified
for government. I might set before your eyes many examples of what I
propose to you; but shall only mention the Greeks, with whom we are
united by the same profession of faith. Whence came the declension of
their empire, but from the neglect of arms? Sloth and inaction have
subjected them to tyrants, and that slavery under which they have
groaned. You are much mistaken if you imagine it is enough for a prince
that he have good generals to act under his orders: no, my son, it is
upon the chief himself that the eyes of the world are fixed; they study
his inclinations, and easily slide into the imitation of his manners. My
brother, during his reign, loved magnificence in dress, and splendid
equipages, and horses richly caparisoned; the taste of this country was
not much formed that way; but the pleasures of the prince soon became
those of the subjects, who are readily led to imitate him both in the
objects of his love and disgust. If people are so easily disengaged from
things that are only for pleasure, will they not be still more prone to
forget, and in process of time wholly to lay aside the use of arms, the
exercise of which grows the more irksome the less they are habituated to
them? You have no inclination to learn the profession of war; you do not
apply yourself to it; and consequently will never know it. How then will
you be able to command others, and to judge of the rewards which those
subjects deserve who do their duty, or of the punishment due to such as
fall short of obedience? You must judge only by other people's eyes; and
will be considered as a young bird, which reaching out its beak, is as
ready to receive poison as proper nourishment. You say, the infirm state
of your health makes you unfit to bear the fatigues of war; but that is
a frivolous excuse. I desire you not to undergo the fatigues of that
profession, though it is there that all great captains are begun; but I
wish you had an inclination to the military art; and reason may give it
you, if you have it not from nature. Had you once this inclination, it
would occupy your thoughts at all times, even in your hours of sickness.
Ask those who remember my brother's reign: his state of health was much
more infirm than your's; he could not manage a horse of never so little
mettle, nor hardly mount him: yet he loved horses, and perhaps there
never will be in the country finer stables than his. Hence you see, that
success does not always depend upon personal labour, but upon the
inclination. If you think that there are princes, whose affairs fail not
to succeed, though they go not to war in person, you are in the right;
but if they go not to the field of battle, they have, however, an
inclination to go, and are acquainted with the military art. For
instance, the late king of France did not always take the field himself;
but we know to what a degree he was a lover of war, and how many
glorious exploits he performed therein; which made his campaigns be
called the theatre and school of the world. The bent of that prince's
mind was not turned to military affairs only, he had also a taste for
the polite arts, for manufactures, and other institutions, which have
made his kingdom more flourishing than any other. After all these
remonstrances which I have laid before you, I return to my first
subject, which immediately concerns yourself. I am a man, and
consequently must die: to whom shall I leave the care of finishing what,
by God's grace, I have begun, and of preserving what I have in part
recovered? To a son who, like that slothful servant in the gospel,
buries his talent in the earth, and neglects to improve what God has
committed to his trust? How often have I reproached you for your
sullenness and indocility? I have been obliged to chastise you on that
account. For these several years past I have hardly spoke to you,
because I almost despair of bringing you back to the right way;
discouraged and disheartened by the fruitlessness of all my endeavours.
You loiter on in supine indolence; abandoning yourself to shameful
pleasures, without extending your foresight to the dangerous
consequences which such a conduct must produce both to yourself and the
whole state: you confine yourself to the government of your own house,
and in that station you acquit yourself very ill; St. Paul has told us,
'he that knows not how to govern his own house, how shall he be able to
rule the church of God?' In like manner I say to you, since you know not
how to manage your domestic affairs, how can you be able to govern a
kingdom? I am determined, at last, to signify to you my final purpose;
being willing, however, to defer the execution of it for a short time,
to see if you will reform: if not, know that I am resolved to deprive
you of the succession, as I would lop off a useless branch. Do not
imagine, that because I have no other child but you,[99] I mean by this
only to intimidate you: I will most certainly execute my resolution; and
God requires it of me: for, since I spare not my own life for the sake
of my country, and the welfare of my people, why should I allow an
effeminate prince to ascend the throne after me, who would sacrifice the
interest of the subject to his pleasures? and should he be obliged to
expose his life in their behalf, would leave them to perish, rather than
redress their grievances. I will call in a mere stranger to the crown,
if he be but worthy of that honour, sooner than my own son, if he is
unworthy.
'PETER.'
To this letter the czarowitz replied: 'Most gracious sovereign and
father, I have read the letter which your majesty sent me of the 27th of
October, 1715, after the interment of my wife; and all the answer I can
make to it is, that if your majesty is determined to deprive me of the
succession to the crown of Russia, on account of my inability, your will
be done. I even request it of you very earnestly; because I judge not
myself fit for government. My memory is greatly impaired; and without
memory there is no managing affairs. The powers both of my body and mind
are much weakened by the diseases to which I have been incident, and I
am thereby incapacitated for the rule of so great a people. Such a
charge requires a man far more vigorous than I am. For these reasons I
am not ambitious to succeed you (whom God preserve through a length of
years) in the crown of Russia, even though I had no brother, as I have
one at present, whom God long preserve. As little will I for the future
set up any claim to the succession: to the truth of which I solemnly
swear, taking God to be my witness; and in testimony thereof I write and
sign these presents. I put my children into your hands: and for myself I
ask no more of you than a bare maintenance during my life, leaving the
whole to your pleasure.
'Your humble servant and son,
'ALEXIS.'
Peter soon penetrated through the disguise his son had assumed, and
therefore wrote him the above letter, dated January 19, 1716, and which
he called his 'Last Admonition.'
[99] This letter was written about eight days before the birth of Peter
Patrowitz, the czar's second son.
[100] This letter was couched in the following terms:--'Most gracious
sovereign and father, yesterday morning I received your letter, of the
19th of this month: my indisposition hinders me from writing to you at
large, but I am willing to embrace the monastic state, and I beg your
gracious consent thereto.
'Your servant, and unworthy son,
'ALEXIS.'
[101] The prince's renunciation was couched in the following terms:--'I,
the undernamed, declare upon the holy gospel, that on account of the
crimes I have committed against his czarish majesty, my father and
sovereign, as set forth in his manifesto, I am, through my own fault,
excluded from the throne of Russia. Therefore I confess and acknowledge
that exclusion to be just, as having merited it by my own fault and
unworthiness; and I hereby oblige myself, and swear in the presence of
Almighty God, in unity of nature, and trinity of persons, as my supreme
Judge, to submit in all things to my father's will, never to set up a
claim or pretension to the succession, or accept of it under any pretext
whatever, acknowledging my brother Peter Petrowitz as lawful successor
to the crown. In testimony whereof, I kiss the holy cross, and sign
these presents with my own hand.
'ALEXIS.'
[102] As this extraordinary piece cannot fail of being interesting to
most part of our readers, we have ventured to subjoin the whole of it in
a note, our author having only given some few extracts.
_The Czar's Declaration._
Peter I. by the grace of God, czar, emperor of Russia, &c. to all our
faithful subjects, ecclesiastical, military, and civil, of all the
states of the Russian nation. It is notorious, and well known to the
greatest part of our faithful subjects, and chiefly to those who live in
the places of our residence, or who are in our service, with how much
care and application we have caused our eldest son Alexis to be brought
up and educated; having given him for that purpose, from his infancy,
tutors to teach him the Russian tongue, and foreign languages, and to
instruct him in all arts and sciences, in order not only to bring him up
in our Christian orthodox faith of the Greek profession, but also in the
knowledge of political and military affairs, and likewise in the
constitution of foreign countries, their customs and languages; through
the reading of history, and other books, in all manner of sciences,
becoming a prince of his high rank, he might acquire the qualifications
worthy of a successor to our throne of Great Russia. Nevertheless, we
have seen with grief, that all attention and care, for the education and
instruction of our son, proved ineffectual and useless, seeing he always
swerved from his filial obedience, shewing no application for what was
becoming a worthy successor, and slighting the precepts of the masters
we had appointed for him; but, on the contrary, frequenting disorderly
persons, from whom he could learn nothing good, or that would be
advantageous and useful to him. We have not neglected often to endeavour
to reclaim, and bring him back to his duty, sometimes by caresses and
gentle means, sometimes by reprimands, sometimes by paternal
corrections. We have more than once taken him with us into our army and
the field, that he might be instructed in the art of war, as one of the
chief sciences for the defence of his country; guarding him, at the same
time, from all hazard of the succession, though we exposed ourself to
manifest perils and dangers. We have at other times left him at Moscow,
putting into his hands a sort of regency in the empire, in order to form
him in the art of government, and that he might learn how to reign after
us. We have likewise sent him into foreign countries, in hopes and
expectation, that seeing, in his travels, governments so well regulated,
this would excite in him some emulation and an inclination to apply
himself to do well. But all our care has been fruitless, and like the
seed of the doctrine fallen upon a rock; for he has not only refused to
follow that which is good, but even is come to hate it, without shewing
any inclination, or disposition, either for military or political
affairs; hourly and continually conversing with base and disorderly
persons, whose morals are rude and abominable. As we were resolved to
endeavour, by all imaginable means, to reclaim him from that disorderly
course, and to inspire him with an inclination to converse with persons
of virtue and honour; we exhorted him to choose a consort among the
chief foreign houses, as is usual in other countries, and hath been
practised by our ancestors, the czars of Russia, who have contracted
alliances by marriages with other sovereign houses, and we have left him
at liberty to make a choice. He declared his inclination for the
princess, grand-daughter of the duke of Wolfenbuttle, then reigning,
sister-in-law to his imperial majesty the emperor of the Romans, now
reigning, and cousin to the king of Great Britain; and having desired us
to procure him that alliance, and permit him to marry that princess, we
readily consented thereunto, without any regard to the great expense
which was necessarily occasioned by that marriage: but, after its
consummation, we found ourselves disappointed of the hopes we had, that
the change in the condition of our son would produce good fruits, and
change his bad inclinations; for, notwithstanding his spouse was, as far
as we have been able to observe, a wise, sprightly princess, and of a
virtuous conduct, and that he himself had chosen her, he nevertheless
lived with her in the greatest disunion, while he redoubled his
affection for lewd people, bringing thereby a disgrace upon our house in
the eyes of foreign powers to whom that princess was related, which drew
upon us many complaints and reproaches. Our frequent advices and
exhortations to him, to reform his conduct, proved ineffectual, and he
at last violated the conjugal faith, and gave his affection to a
prostitute of the most servile and low condition, living publicly in
that crime with her, to the great contempt of his lawful spouse, who
soon after died; and it was believed that her grief, occasioned by the
disorderly life of her husband, hastened the end of her days. When we
saw his resolution to persevere in his vicious courses, we declared to
him, at the funeral of his consort, that if he did not for the future
conform to our will, and apply himself to things becoming a prince,
presumptive heir to so great an empire, we would deprive him of the
succession, without any regard to his being our only son (our second son
was not then born) and that he ought not to rely upon his being such,
because we would rather choose for our successor a stranger worthy
thereof, than an unworthy son; that we would not leave our empire to
such a successor, who would ruin and destroy what we have, by God's
assistance, established, and tarnish the glory and honour of the Russian
nation, for the acquiring of which we had sacrificed our ease and our
health, and willingly exposed our life on several occasions; besides,
that the fear of God's judgment would not permit us to leave the
government of such vast territories in the hands of one whose
insufficiency and unworthiness we were not ignorant of. In short, we
exhorted him in the most pressing terms we could make use of, to behave
himself with discretion, and gave him time to repent and return to his
duty. His answer to these remonstrances was, that he acknowledged
himself guilty in all these points; but alleged the weakness of his
parts and genius, which did not permit him to apply himself to the
sciences, and other functions recommended to him: he owned himself
incapable of our succession, and desired us to discharge him from the
same. Nevertheless, we continued to exhort him with a paternal
affection, and joining menaces to our exhortations; we forgot nothing to
bring him back to the right way. The operations of the war having
obliged us to repair to Denmark, we left him at Petersburg, to give him
time to return to his duty, and amend his ways; and, afterwards, upon
the repeated advices we received of the continuance of his disorderly
life, we sent him orders to come to us at Copenhagen, to make the
campaign, that he might thereby the better form himself. But, forgetting
the fear and commandments of God, who enjoins obedience even to private
parents, and much more to those who are at the same time sovereigns, our
paternal cares had no other return than unheard-of ingratitude; for,
instead of coming to us as we ordered, he withdrew, with large sums of
money, and his infamous concubine, with whom he continued to live in a
criminal course, and put himself under the protection of the emperor,
raising against us, his father and his lord, numberless calumnies and
false reports, as if we did persecute him, and intended, without cause,
to deprive him of the succession; alleging, moreover, that even his life
was not safe if he continued with us, and desired the emperor not only
to give him refuge in his dominions, but also to protect him against us
by force of arms. Every one may judge, what shame and dishonour this
conduct of our son hath drawn upon us and our empire, in the face of the
whole world; the like instance is hardly to be found in history. The
emperor, though informed of his excesses, and how he had lived with his
consort, sister-in-law to his imperial majesty, thought fit, however,
upon these pressing instances, to appoint him a place where he might
reside; and he desired farther, that he might be so private there, that
we might not come to the knowledge of it. Meanwhile his long stay having
made us fear, out of a tender and fatherly affection for him, that some
misfortune had befallen him, we sent persons several ways to get
intelligence of him, and, after a great deal of trouble, we were at last
informed by the captain of our guard, Alexander Romanzoff, that he was
privately kept in an imperial fortress at Tyrol; whereupon we wrote a
letter, with our own hand, to the emperor, to desire that he might be
sent back to us: but, notwithstanding the emperor acquainted him with
our demands, and exhorted him to return to us, and submit to our will,
as being his father and lord; yet he alleged, with a great many
calumnies against us, that he ought not to be delivered into our hands,
as if we had been his enemy, and a tyrant, from whom he had nothing to
expect but death. In short, he persuaded his imperial majesty, instead
of sending him back at that time to us, to remove him to some remote
place in his dominions, namely, Naples in Italy, and keep him there
secretly in the castle, under a borrowed name. Nevertheless, we having
notice of the place where he was, did thereupon dispatch to the emperor
our privy-counsellor, Peter Tolstoy, and the captain of our guard,
aforesaid, with a most pressing letter, representing how unjust it would
be to detain our son, contrary to all laws, divine and human, according
to which private parents, and with much more reason those who are
besides invested with a sovereign authority as we are, have an unlimited
power over their children, independently of any other judge; and we set
forth on one side, the just and affectionate manner with which we had
always used our son, and, on the other, his disobedience; representing,
in the conclusion, the ill consequences and animosities which the
refusal of delivering up our son to us might occasion, because we would
not leave this affair in that condition. We, at the same time, ordered
those we sent with that letter, to make verbal remonstrances even in
more pressing terms, and to declare that we should be obliged to
revenge, by all possible methods, such detaining our son. We wrote
likewise a letter to him with our own hand, to represent to him the
horror and impiety of his conduct, and the enormity of the crime he had
committed against us his father, and how God threatened in his laws to
punish disobedient children with eternal death: we threatened him, as a
father, with our curses, and, as his lord, to declare him a traitor to
his country, unless he returned, and obeyed our commands; and gave him
assurance, that if he did as we desired, and returned, we would pardon
his crime. Our envoys, after many solicitations, and the above
representation, made by us in writing, at last obtained leave of the
emperor to go and speak to our son, in order to dispose him to return
home. The imperial minister gave them at the same time to understand,
that our son had informed the emperor that we persecuted him, and that
his life was not safe with us, whereby he moved the emperor's
compassion, and induced him to take him into his protection; but that
the emperor, taking now into his consideration our true and solid
representations, promised to use his utmost endeavour to dispose him to
return to us; and would, moreover, declare to him, that he could not in
justice and equity refuse to deliver him to his father, or have any
difference with us on that account. Our envoys, upon their arrival at
Naples, having desired to deliver to him our letter, written with our
hand, sent us word, that he did refuse to admit them; but that the
emperor's viceroy had found means, by inviting him to his house, to
present them to him afterwards, much against his will. He did then,
indeed, receive our letter, containing our paternal exhortation, and
threatening our curse, but without shewing the least inclination to
return; alleging still a great many falsities and calumnies against us,
as if, by reason of several dangers he had to apprehend from us, he
could not, nor would not return; and boasting, that the emperor had not
only promised to defend and protect him against us, but even to set him
upon the throne of Russia against our will, by force of arms. Our envoys
perceiving this evil disposition, tried all imaginable ways to prevail
with him to return, they intreated him, they expatiated by turns upon
the graciousness of our assurances towards him, and upon our threats in
case of disobedience, and that we would even bring him away by force of
arms; they declared to him that the emperor would not enter into a war
with us on his account, and many other such-like representations did
they make to him. But he paid no regard to all this, nor shewed any
inclination to return to us, until the imperial viceroy, convinced at
last of his obstinacy, told him in the emperor's name, that he ought to
return; for that his imperial majesty could not by any law keep him from
us, nor, during the present war with Turkey, and also in Italy with
Spain, embroil himself with us upon his account. When he saw how the
case stood, fearing he should be delivered up to us, whether he would or
not, he at length resolved to return home; and declared his mind to our
envoys, and to the imperial viceroy: he likewise wrote the same thing to
us, acknowledging himself to be a criminal, and blameworthy. Now
although our son, by so long a course of criminal disobedience against
us, his father and lord, for many years, and particularly for the
dishonour he hath cast upon us in the face of the world, by withdrawing
himself, and raising calumnies against us, as if we were an unnatural
father, and for opposing his sovereign, hath deserved to be punished
with death; yet our paternal affection inclines us to have mercy upon
him, and we therefore pardon his crimes, and exempt him from all
punishment for the same. But considering his unworthiness, we cannot in
conscience, leave him after us the succession to the throne of Russia;
foreseeing that, by his vicious courses, he would entirely destroy the
glory of our nation and the safety of our dominions, which, through
God's assistance, we have acquired and established by incessant
application; for it is notorious and known to every one, how much it
hath cost us, and with what efforts we have not only recovered the
provinces which the enemy had usurped from our empire, but also
conquered several considerable towns and countries, and with what care
we have caused our people to be instructed in all sorts of civil and
military sciences, to the glory and advantage of the nation and empire.
Now, as we should pity our states and faithful subjects, if, by such a
successor, we should throw them back into a much worse condition than
ever they were yet; so, by the paternal authority, in virtue of which,
by the laws of our empire, any of our subjects may disinherit a son, and
give his succession to such other of his sons, as he pleases; and, in
quality of sovereign prince, in consideration of the safety of our
dominions, we do deprive our said son Alexis, for his crimes and
unworthiness, of the succession after us to the throne of Russia, even
though there should not remain one single person of our family after us.
And we do constitute and declare successor to the said throne after us,
our second son Peter, though yet very young, having no successor that is
older. We lay upon our said son Alexis our paternal curse, if ever at
any time he pretends to, or reclaims, the said succession; and we desire
our faithful subjects, whether ecclesiastics or seculars, of all ranks
and conditions, and the whole Russian nation, in conformity to this
constitution and our will, to acknowledge and consider our said son
Peter, appointed by our constitution, to confirm the whole by oath,
before the holy altar, upon the holy gospel, kissing the cross; and all
those who shall ever, at any time, oppose this our will, and who, from
this day forward, shall dare to consider our son Alexis, as successor,
or to assist him for that purpose, declare them traitors to us and their
country. And we have ordered that these presents shall be every where
published and promulgated, to the end that no person may pretend
ignorance.--Given at Moscow, the third of February, 1718. Signed with
our hand, and sealed with our seal.
'PETER.'
[103] This was the son of the empress Catherine, who died April 15,
1719.
[104] At the same time confirming it by an oath, the form of which was
as follows: 'I swear before Almighty God, and upon his holy gospel, that
whereas our most gracious sovereign, the czar Peter Alexiowitz, has
caused circular letters to be published through his empire, to notify
that he has thought fit to exclude his son, prince Alexis Petrowitz,
from the throne of Russia, and to appoint for his successor to the crown
his second son, the prince royal Peter Petrowitz; I do acknowledge this
order and regulation made by his majesty in favour of the said prince
Peter Petrowitz, to be just and lawful, and entirely conform and submit
myself to the same; promising always to acknowledge the said prince
royal Peter Petrowitz for his lawful successor, and to stand by him on
all occasions, even to the loss of my life, against all such as shall
presume to oppose the said succession; and that I never will, on any
pretence whatsoever assist the prince Alexis Petrowitz, nor in any
manner whatsoever contribute to procure him the succession. And this I
solemnly promise by my oath on the holy gospel, kissing the holy cross
thereupon.'
[105] His declaration to the clergy concluded in this manner:--'Though
this affair does not fall within the verge of the spiritual, but of the
civil jurisdiction, and we have this day referred it to the imperial
decision of the secular court, but remembering that passage in the word
of God, which requires us on such occasions to consult the priests and
elders of the church, in order to know the will of Heaven, and being
desirous of receiving all possible instructions in a matter of such
importance, we desire of you, the archbishops, and the whole
ecclesiastical state, as teachers of the word of God, not to pronounce
judgment in this case, but to examine and give us your opinion
concerning it, according to the sacred oracles, from whom we may be best
informed what punishment my son deserves, and that you will give it us
in writing under your hands, that being properly instructed herein, we
may lay no burthen on our conscience. We therefore repose our confidence
in you, that, as guardians of the divine laws, as faithful pastors of
the Christian flock, and as well affected towards your country, you will
act suitable to your dignity, conjuring you by that dignity, and the
holiness of your function, to proceed without fear or dissimulation.
[106] Besides the particular passages in holy writ cited on this
occasion, which were, Levit. xx. 1, 9. Deut. xxxi. Matt. xx. 1. Mark
vii. 9. Rom. i. 28. Ephes vi. 1. those from the constitutions of the
empire were as follows: 'If any person, by any ill design, forms any
attempt against the health of the czar, or does any thing to his
prejudice, and is found inclined to execute his pernicious designs, let
him be put to death, after he is convicted thereof.' Stat. 1. 'In like
manner, if any one, during the reign of his czarian majesty, through a
desire to reign in the empire of Russia, and put the czar to death,
shall begin to raise troops with this pernicious view; or if any one
shall form an alliance with the enemies of his czarian majesty, or hold
a correspondence with them, or assist them to arrive at the government,
or raise any other disorder; if any one declare it, and the truth be
found out upon such declaration, let the traitor suffer death upon
conviction of the treason.' Stat. 2. From the military laws the
following citations were made; chap. 3. art. 19. 'If any subject raises
men, and takes up arms against the czarian majesty; or if any person
forms a design of taking his majesty prisoner, or killing him; or if he
offers any violence to him; he and all his abettors and adherents shall
be quartered, as guilty of treason, and their goods confiscated.' To
which article the following explanation was added: 'They also shall
suffer the same punishment, who, though they have not been able to
execute their crime, shall be convicted of inclination and desire to
commit it; and likewise, those who shall not have discovered it when it
came to their knowledge,' chap. 26. art. 37. 'He who forms a design of
committing any treason, or any other matter of the like nature, shall be
punished with the same capital punishments as if he had actually
executed his design.'
[107] M. de Voltaire is mistaken in this point; for, by our laws, no
peer of the realm can absent himself from the service of the parliament
during its session, without the liberty of the king or the house.
[108] This is another mistake; for it is death by our law to compass or
imagine the death of the sovereign.
[109] Or Nions, the capital of Montauban, in Dauphine, in France,
situate on the river Aigues, over which is a bridge, said to be a Roman
work.
[110] At twenty-four to the pound sterling.
[111] About three thousand pounds sterling.
[112] The czar celebrated this victory by a naval triumph at Petersburg,
caused a gold medal to be struck to perpetuate the glory of the action,
presented prince Galitzin with a sword set with diamonds, and
distributed a large sum of money among the officers and sailors who had
given such signal proofs of their valour.
[113] A little town of the Bothnick gulf in North Finland.
[114] Notwithstanding the great rejoicings made on this occasion, Peter
was noways inattentive to the affairs of state; but held frequent
councils thereon: and being desirous, as his son Peter Petrowitz was
dead, to settle the succession on a prince who would follow his maxims,
and prosecute the great designs which he had begun for civilizing his
people, he ordered public notice to be given, on the 23d of February, to
all his subjects inhabiting the city of Moscow, to repair the next day
to Castle-church; which they having done, printed papers were delivered
to them all, signifying, 'That it was his imperial majesty's pleasure,
that every man should swear, and give under his hand, that he would not
only approve the choice his majesty would make of a successor, but
acknowledge the person he should appoint as emperor and sovereign.' An
order was likewise published a few days after at Petersburg, requiring
the magistrates and all persons to subscribe the same declaration; and
all the grandees of the empire were commanded, on pain of death and
confiscation, to repair to Moscow by the latter end of March for that
purpose, except those inhabiting Astracan and Siberia, who, living at
too great a distance, were excused from giving their personal
attendance, and permitted to subscribe before their respective
governors. This oath was readily taken by all ranks and degrees of the
people, who were well assured that their emperor would make choice of
one who was every way worthy of the succession, and capable of
supporting the dignity intended for him: but they were still in the dark
as to the identical person, though it was generally believed to be
prince Nariskin, who was nearly related to the emperor, and allowed to
have all the qualities requisite for his successor: but a little time
shewed them, that this conjecture was groundless.
[115] These he published and distributed along the borders of the
Caspian Sea, therein declaring--That he came not upon the frontiers of
Persia, with an intention of reducing any of the provinces of that
kingdom to his obedience, but only to maintain the lawful possessor of
them on his throne, and to defend him powerfully, together with his
faithful subjects, against the tyranny of Mir Mahmoud, and to obtain
satisfaction from him and his Tartars, for the robberies and mischiefs
which they had committed in the Russian empire.
[116] Memoirs of Bassewitz.
[117] MS. memoirs of count de Bassewitz.
[118] Catherine paid the last duties to her husband's ashes, with a pomp
becoming the greatest monarch that Russia, or perhaps any other country,
had ever known; and though there is no court of Europe where splendour
and magnificence is carried to a greater height on these occasions than
in that of Russia, yet it may with great truth be said, that she even
surpassed herself in the funeral honours paid to her great Peter. She
purchased the most precious kinds of marble, and employed some of the
ablest sculptors of Italy to erect a mausoleum to this hero, which
might, if possible, transmit the remembrance of his great actions to the
most distant ages. Not satisfied with this, she caused a medal to be
struck, worthy of the ancients. On one side was represented the bust of
the late emperor, with these words--'_Peter the Great, Emperor and
Sovereign of all Russia, born May 30, 1672_. On the reverse was the
empress sitting, with the crown on her head, the globe and sceptre by
her side on a table, and before her were a sphere, sea charts, plans,
mathematical instruments, arms, and a caduceus. At distances, in three
different places, were represented an edifice on the sea coast, with a
platform before it, a ship and galley at sea, and the late emperor in
the clouds, supported by eternity, looking on the empress, and shewing
her with his right hand all the treasures he had left her, with these
words, 'Behold what I have left you.' In the exergue, 'Deceased 28
January, 1725.' Several of these medals she ordered to be struck in
gold, to the weight of fifty ducats and distributed among the foreign
ministers, and all the grandees of the empire, as a testimony of her
respect and gratitude to the memory of her late husband, to whose
generosity she took a pleasure in owning herself indebted for her
present elevated station.
Mottley gives us the following, as the czar's epitaph:
Here lieth,
All that could die of a man immortal,
PETER ALEXIOWITZ:
It is almost superfluous to add,
_Great Emperor of Russia!_
A title,
Which, instead of adding to his glory,
Became glorious by his wearing it.
Let antiquity be dumb,
Nor boast her Alexander, or her Cæsar.
How easy was victory
To leaders who were followed by heroes!
And whose soldiers felt a noble disdain
At being thought less vigilant than their generals!
But he,
Who in this place first knew rest,
Found subjects base and inactive,
Unwarlike, unlearned, untractable;
Neither covetous of fame, nor fearless of danger;
Creatures with the names of men,
But with qualities rather brutal than rational!
Yet, even these
He polished from their native ruggedness;
And, breaking out like a new sun,
To illuminate the minds of a people,
Dispelled their night of hereditary darkness;
And, by force of his invincible influence,
Taught them to conquer
Even the conquerors of Germany.
Other princes have commanded victorious armies;
This commander created them.
Blush, O Art! at a hero who owed thee nothing
Exult, O Nature! for thine was this prodigy.
[119] The distinguished regard which this princess shews for the arts
and sciences, and her endeavours to attract the great geniuses of all
nations to reside in her dominions, by every possible encouragement,
affords the strongest presumptions, that in her reign we shall see a
second age of Louis XIV. and of this we have had a recent proof, in the
obliging letter which this august princess wrote with her own hand to M.
d'Alembert, and the choice she has since made of M. Duplex, a member of
the royal academy of sciences at Paris, when the beforementioned
gentleman thought fit to decline the gracious offers she made him. In
which choice she has shewn that it is not birth nor rank, but true merit
and virtue, which she considers as the essential qualifications in a
person to whom she would confide the most sacred of all trusts, that of
the education of the grand duke, her son. What then may not be expected
from the administration of a sovereign so superior to vulgar prejudice?
And especially when assisted by a Woronzoff and a Galitzin, both the
professed friends and patrons of literature and the fine arts, which
they themselves have not disdained to cultivate, when business and the
weighty affairs of state have allowed them a few moments leisure.
[120] The following anecdote, communicated by a nobleman of the
strictest probity, who was himself an eye-witness of the fact, will give
us a clear insight into the character and disposition of Peter I. In one
of the many plots which was formed against the life and government of
this monarch, there was among the number of those seized a soldier,
belonging to his own regiment of guards. Peter being told by his
officers that this man had always behaved extremely well, had a
curiosity to see him, and learn from his own mouth what might have been
his inducement to be concerned in a plot against him; and to this
purpose he dressed himself in a plain garb, and so as not to be known by
the man again, and went to the prison where he was confined, when, after
some conversation, 'I should be glad to know, friend,' said Peter, 'what
were your reasons for being concerned in an attempt against the emperor
your master, as I am certain that he never did you any injury, but on
the contrary, has a regard for you, as being a brave soldier, and one
who have always done your duty in the field; and therefore, if you were
to shew the least remorse for what you have done, I am persuaded that
the emperor would forgive you: but before I interest myself in your
behalf, you must tell me what motives you had to join the mutineers; and
repeat to you again, that the emperor is naturally so good and
compassionate, that I am certain he will give you your pardon.'
'I know little or nothing of the emperor,' replied the soldier, 'for I
never saw him but at a distance; but he caused my father's head to be
cut off some time ago, for being concerned in a former rebellion, and it
is the duty of a son to revenge the death of his father, by that of the
person who took away his life. If then the emperor is really so good and
merciful as you have represented him, counsel him, for his own safety
not to pardon me; for were he to restore me my liberty, the first use I
should make of it would be, to engage in some new attempt against his
life, nor should I ever rest till I had accomplished my design;
therefore the securest method he can take, will be to order my head to
be struck off immediately, without which his own life is not in safety.'
The czar in vain used all the arguments he could think of, to set before
this desperado the folly and injustice of such sentiments; he still
persisted in what he had declared, and Peter departed, greatly chagrined
at the bad success of his visit, and gave orders for the execution of
this man and the rest of his accomplices.
Transcriber's notes:
The following is a list of changes made to the original.
The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
of procelain, the court magazines, the foundery,
of porcelain, the court magazines, the foundery,
and brought martins and black foxes,
and brought martens and black foxes,
Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown 300
Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown 3000
dicipline by land: nay, the most common
discipline by land: nay, the most common
and encouragement on the part of a govornment;
and encouragement on the part of a government;
situated on the Driester, and subject to the Turks,
situated on the Dniester, and subject to the Turks,
in a word, he was worthy of being the father of
In a word, he was worthy of being the father of
to the empire, the reigns of which she intended
to the empire, the reins of which she intended
He led a retired life, and died in 1646.
He led a retired life, and died in 1696.
retook from Lewis XIV. in 1694. After this,
retook from Lewis XIV. in 1674. After this,
up the renegado, Jacob, to the conquerors.
up the renegade, Jacob, to the conquerors.
cruizing on the coast of Crim Tartary. The Ottoman
cruising on the coast of Crim Tartary. The Ottoman
Marshal Sheremeto, the general Gordons and Schein,
Marshal Sheremeto, the generals Gordon and Schein,
Accordingly, in the month of March 1677, he sent
Accordingly, in the month of March 1697, he sent
by king Willian with a spectacle worthy such a
by king William with a spectacle worthy such a
is signed, and they cad no longer go from their
is signed, and they can no longer go from their
This is speaking like the high-priest of depotism.
This is speaking like the high-priest of despotism.
he invited all the boyards, and principa lladies
he invited all the boyards, and principal ladies
gained a pitched battle, againsr an enemy who
gained a pitched battle, against an enemy who
ignorant of the place where these two princes where,
ignorant of the place where these two princes were,
gave up those Zoporavians who had engaged in
gave up those Zaporavians who had engaged in
prisoners. Is has been the custom of the
prisoners. It has been the custom of the
Demetrius Cantemir, was at this time Waiwod of Moldavia.
Demetrius Cantemir was at this time Waiwod of Moldavia.
perish with famine. other memoirs pretend, on
perish with famine. Other memoirs pretend, on
and six thousand six hundred and nine-two
and six thousand six hundred and ninety-two
almost every century: Gustavus Adolphus get possession
almost every century: Gustavus Adolphus got possession
took great delight in the ancient Green historians,
took great delight in the ancient Greek historians,
he gave orders that the man, whom he had exmained
he gave orders that the man, whom he had examined
transmitted to the latest postesity.
transmitted to the latest posterity.
And here we cannnot forbear recalling to the
And here we cannot forbear recalling to the
Caspian Sea, in the neigbourhood of Daghestan,
Caspian Sea, in the neighbourhood of Daghestan,
head of James II. in London, as he had before
head of James III. in London, as he had before
not been attested by a a public minister, who was
not been attested by a public minister, who was
Gods's assistance, we owe to our labour, and those of our
God's assistance, we owe to our labour, and those of our
of the country, and his ill-behaviour to his wife.'
of the country, and his ill-behaviour to his wife.
us word, that he did rufuse to admit them; but that the
us word, that he did refuse to admit them; but that the
materials for reparing this great structure, which
materials for repairing this great structure, which
who, was to have Stanislaus again for her king.
who was to have Stanislaus again for her king.
of renouncing arbitary government. Charles
of renouncing arbitrary government. Charles
in this situation during the whole of the pear 1719.
in this situation during the whole of the year 1719.
them on his throne, and to defend him powerfully, toge-
them on his throne, and to defend him powerfully, together