THE AMERICAN SCHOOL LIBRARY. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. u Knowledge is like the light of heaven : free, pure, pleasant, exhaustless. It invites all to possession : it admits of no pre-emption, no rights exclusive, no monopoly." "Promote, as objects of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge."— Washington's Farewell Address. NEW-YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET. 1839. THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. President : Honourable Stephen Van Rensselaer. Vice-Presidents : His Excellency Gov. Marcy, Al bany. Hon. Albert Gallatin, New- York. Hon. Reuben H. Walworth, N. Y. Rt. Rev. Benj. T. Onderdonk, N. Y. Hon. Franklin Pierce, N. H. Francis Wayland, D.D., R. I. Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, N. J. Hon. Samuel L. Southard, N. J. Hon. Robert C. Greer, Penn. Hon. Roger B. Taney, Md. Hon Windham Robertson, Va. Hon. William C. Rives, Va. General James Hamilton, S. C. Hon. Henry Hitchcock, Ala. Hon. Alexander Porter, La. Hon. Felix Grundy, Tenn. Rt. Rev. Charles P. M'llvaine, Ohio. His Excellency Gov. Duncan, III. Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., Mich. Board of Directors : His Ex. Gov. Everett, LL.D., Mass. Hon. Dan. Webster, LL.D., Boston. James Mil nor, D.D., New- York. His Excellency Gov. Dunlap, Me. Hon. Ruel Williams, Me, Hon. Horace Everett, Vt. Hon. Roger M. Sherman, Conn. Hon. Horace Binney, LL.D., Penn. Hon. James Bayard, Thomas Sewall, M.D., Hon. William Gaston, Hon. JohnM. Berrien, Hon. Robert J. Walker, Hon. Thomas J. Lacy, Hon. Henry Clav, LL.D., John C. Young, D.D., Hon, William Hendricks, Hon. Lewis F. Linn, Del. D.C. N. C. Geo. Miss. Ark. Ky. Ky. Ind. Mo. Alonzo Potter, D.D., New- York. John Knox, D.D., " Jacob Janeway, D.D., " Rev. John A. Vaughan, " Rev. Gorham D. Abbott, " Hon. Benj. F. Butler, LL.D., " Hon. Samuel T. Armstrong, Mass. Hon. Samuel Hubbard. LL.D., " Hon. John Sergeant, Pennsylvania. Peter G. Stuyvesant, Esq., N. Y. Hugh Maxwell, Esq., " Charles Butler, Esq., " Hiram Ketchum, Esq., " James Brown, Esq., " Frederic A. Tracy, Esq., " Eleazer Lord, Esq., " Thomas Cock, M D., " John T. Gilchrist, Esq., " Samuel W. Seton, Esq., " Isaac Collins, Esq., Pennsylvania. Executive Committee; James Brown, Esq., New. York, Chairman. Thomas M'Auley, D.D., New- York. Francis L. Hawks, D.D., Thomas Dewitt, D.D., " Rev. George Potts, " Rev. John Proudflt, Prof. Benj. Silliman, LL.D., Hon. Samuel Jones, Hon. Myndert Van Schaick, Hon. Heman Lincoln, Bradford Sumner, Esq., David Graham, Esq., Timothy R. Green, Esq., George S. Robbins, Esq., Cornelius Baker, Rsq., John Griscom, LL.D., Anthony P. Halsey, Esq., " Robert Kelly, Esq., " Isaac S. Loyd, Esq., Pennsylvania. Thomas J. Wharton, Esq., " Conn. N. Y. Mass. a N.Y. N. Y. John Torrey, M.D., Med. Coll., N. Y. Alonzo Potter, D.D., U. Col., " Wilbur Fisk, D.D., Wes. Un:., Conn. Rev. Jacob Abbott, Boston, ttev. Bela B. Edwards, " Rev. Leonard Bacon, New-Haven. Rev. Calvin E. Stowe, Ohio. Charles Butler, Esq., New- York. Gorham D. Abbott, Secretary. Anthony P. Halsey, Treasurer. Thomas Cock, M.D., New- York. Lewis C. Beck, N.Y. University, " William Cooper, Lye. Nat. Hist., " John T. Gilchrist, Esq., " Timothv R. Green, Esq., " Marinus Willett, M.D., ■* William Betts, Esq., « Henry E. Davies, Esq., " THE AMERICAN SCHOOL LIBRARY. The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge present to the country the commencement of their Library for schools, designed to em- brace, when completed, a few hundred volumes, written and compiled with special reference to the wants of the youth of our country. It will include in the range of its subjects works in the various departments of knowledge most interesting and useful to the great body of the people, including history, voyages and travels, biography, natural history, the physical, intellectual, moral, and political sciences, agriculture, manufac- tures, arts, commerce, the belles lettres, and the history and philosophy cf education. The increasing interest in the subject of school libraries in several of the States, and the repeated calls upon the Committee for their Library, have induced them to issue the present selection from existing publica- tions to meet the immediate wants of our schools, while they go on, as fast as possible, to complete the plan announced in their published pro- spectus. They will regard, in the execution of it, the different ages, tastes, circumstances, and capacities of readers. The Committee present the following fifty volumes, chiefly standard works of permanent interest and value, which have already received ex- tensively the public approbation in this country and in Europe, as the commencement of the series, to be extended from time to time, until it shall comprise a well-selected and comprehensive Library of Useful Knowledge, worthy of a place in every schoolroom of our country. It will be the greatest care of the Committee, that the whole be per- vaded and characterized by a spirit of Christian morality calculated to refine and elevate the moral character of our nation. VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. An Historical Account of the Cir- cumnavigation of the Globe. En- gravings. Narrative of Discovery and Adven- ture in Africa. From the Earliest Ages to the Present r fime. By Professor Jameson, and James Wilson and Hugh Murray, Esqrs. Lives and Voyages of Early Navi- gators. Portraits. A View of Ancient and Modern Egypt. By the Rev. M. Russell LL.D. Palestine, or the Holy Land. From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. By the Rev. M. Russell, LL.D. History of Chivalry and the Cru sades. By G. P. R. James. En- gravings. The History of Arabia, Ancient and Modern. By Andrew Crichton. 2 vols. Engravings, &c. The Chinese. A general Description of the Empire of China and its Inhabitants. By John Francis Davis, F.R.S. With Engravings American History. By the Author of " American Popular Lessons." With Engravings. 3 vols. American Revolution. By B. B. Thatcher, Esq. History of New- York. By William Dunlap. History of Virginia. By Uacle Philip. BIOGRAPHY. A Life of Washington. By J. K. Paulding, Esq. In 2 vols. With Engravings. The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. By J. G. Lockhart, Esq. In2 vols With Portraits. The Life and Actions of Alexander the Great. By the Rev. J. Wil- liams. With a Map. Memoir of the Life of Peter the Great. By John Barrow, Esq. Portrait. The Life of Oliver Cromwell. By; Rev. M. Russell, LL.D. 2 vols, Memoirs of Celebrated Female Sov- ereigns. By Mrs. Jameson. 2 vols. NATURAL HISTORY. A. Popular Guide to the Observation of Nature ; or, Hints of Induce- ment to the Study of Natural Pro- ductions and Appearances, in their Connexions and Relations. By Robert Mudie. Engravings. The Swiss Family Robinson; or, Adventures of a Father and Mo- ther and Four Sons on a Desert Island. 2 vols. With Engravings. The American Forest; Or, Uncle Philip's Conversations with the Children about the Trees of Amer- ica. With numerous Engravings. The Natural History of Insects. In 2 vols. With Engravings. Natural History ; or, Tools and Trades among Inferior Animals, By Uncle Philip. PHYSICAL SCIENCE. The Principles of Physiology, ap- plied to the Preservation of Health, and to the Improvement of Physi- cal and Mental Education. By Andrew Combe, M.D. The Earth : its Physical Condition and most Remarkable Phenome- na. By W. Mullinger Higgins. Engravings. Letters of Euler on Different Sub- jects of Natural Philosophy. Ad- dressed to a German Princess. Translated by Hunter. With Notes, and a Life of Euler, by Sir David Brewster; and Additional Notes, by John Griscom, LL.D INTELLECTUAL SCIENCE. Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the Investigation of Truth. By John Abercrombie. On the Improvement of Society by the Diffusion of Knowledge. By Thomas Dick, LL.D. The Philosophy of the Moral Feel- ings. By John Abercrombie. BELLES LETTRES. Lectures on General Literature, Poetry, &c. By Jas. Montgomery. MISCELLANEOUS. Indian Traits; being Sketches of the Manners, Customs, and Char- acter of the North American Na- tives. By B. B. Thatcher, Esq. 2 vols. With Engravings. Perils of the Sea ; being Authentic Narratives of Remarkable and Af- fecting Disasters upon the Deep. With Engravings. The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man. By Miss C. M. Sedg- wick. The Ornaments Discovered. By Mary Hughs. The Son of a Genius. By Mrs. Hofland. The Whale-fishery and the Polar Seas. By Uncle Philip. At a regular meeting of the Executive Committee, it was unanimously Resolved, That the above-named fifty volumes be approved and adopted as the commencement of " The American Schol Library," and that the same be earnestly recommended to public patronage. In behalf of the Committee, James Brown, Chairman, J. T. Gilchrist, Secretary. A. P. Halsky, John Torrey, Thomas Cock, Charles Butler. At a general meeting of the Society, held on the 10th of May, 1838, at the Stuyvesant Institute, Broadway, his Excellency Governor Marcy in the chair, Anthony P. Halsey, Secretary, it was unanimously Resolved, That we recommend the immediate introduction of a suitable Library of Useful Knowledge in every schoolroom in our State ; and that we invite the attention of teachers, of school committees, and of every friend of education and of the universal diffusion of knowledge in this and in other States, to " The American School Library, ' now commenced by this Society. A. P. Halsey, Secretary. Gorham D. Abbott, Sec'y A. S. D. U. K. TZAROIPMTUSC Harper It- Brothers MEMOIR THE LIFE PETER THE GREAT. JOHN BARROW, ESQ., SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY, AUTHOR OF " FITCAIRN'S ISLAND AND ITS INHABITANTS," &C. NEW- YORK : PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET. 1839. CONTENTS. Preface Page 9 CHAPTER I. The Birth of the Tzar Peter L— The Intrigues of his Family- Revolt of the Strelitzes or Russian Janizaries — The Regency of Sophia — The Tzar ascends the Throne 17 CHAPTER II. The Tzar creates a Navy, and new-models his Army — Le Fort — Menzikotf— Gordon — First Attack on Azoph fails — The sec- ond succeeds — Conspiracy discovered and defeated - - 31 CHAPTER III. The Tzar Peter travels into Holland — His Residence at Zaan- dam 52 CHAPTER IV. The Tzar Peter visits England 72 CHAPTER V. The Tzar inflicts dreadful Punishment on the Conspirators — Commences his System of Reform— Death of Le Fort — Prepares a large Fleet at Voronitz, on the Don — Commences a War with Sweden 99 CHAPTER VI. The Battle of Narva — Peter's Success against the Swedes — History of Catharine 122 CHAPTER VII. Continued Successes over the Swedes — Peter lays the Founda- tion of St. Petersburg — His Saxon Ally deprived of the Crown 8 CONTENTS. of Poland — Takes Dorpt, and Narva, and Mittau — Augustus makes Peace with Charles — Disgraceful Conduct of the former — Seizure and inhuman Death of Patkul — Masterly Manoeuvre of Peter — Position of the Russian and Swedish Armies - 144 CHAPTER VIII. The Battle of Pultowa 167 CHAPTER IX. The Battle of the Pruth 185 CHAPTER X. The Tzar's Naval Victory over the Swedes — Rejoicings— A Russian Entertainment — Death of the Consort of Alexis — The Tzarina Catharine brings Peter a Son — Strange Rejoi- cings — Progressive Improvements at Petersburg - - ' - 207 CHAPTER XL Charles XII. returns to Sweden — The Tzar visits Holland, France, and Prussia 233 CHAPTER XII. The Trial, Condemnation, and Death of the Tzarovitz Alexis 248 CHAPTER XIII. The Peace of Neustadt— Peter entreated to accept the Titles of Emperor, Great, and Father of his Country — Several new In- stitutions and Manufactories established— An Embassy sent to China — Assemblies, or Soirdes, instituted — Peter's Mode of Living — Provides for the Succession 271 CHAPTER XIV. Peter directs his views towards Persia — Failure of the Expedi- tion — Trial and Punishment of certain Delinquents — Celebra- tion of the "Little Grandsire," the first germ of the Russian Navy 287 CHAPTER XV. The Coronation of Catharine— Sickness and Death of Peter the Great— His Character and Epitaph - - ■ 302 PREFACE. The author or compiler of the following Biogra- phical Memoir has done little more than bring together and arrange the scattered fragments of histories, lives, anecdotes, and notices, in manuscript or in print, of one of the most extraordinary characters that ever appeared on the great theatre of the world, in any age or country : a being full of contradictions, yet consistent in all that he did ; a promoter of litera- ture, arts, and sciences, yet without education himself; the civilizer of his people, "he gave a polish," says Voltaire, " to his nation, and was himself a savage ;" he taught his people the art of war, of which he was himself ignorant ; from the first glance of a small cock-boat, at the distance of five hundred miles from the nearest sea, he became an expert ship-builder, created a powerful fleet, partly constructed with his own hands, made himself an active and expert sailor, a skilful pilot, a great captain : in short, he changed the manners, the habits, the laws of the people, and the very face of the country. A modern French writer has given a catalogue of no less than ninety-five authors who have treated of Peter the Great, and concludes it with three &c.'s. About one-fourth of that number may have been con- X PREFACE. suited on the present occasion, of which the principal ones are the following : — Journal de Pierre le Grand, depuis Vannee 1698, jusqtfa la Conclusion de la Paix de Neustadt. Ecrit par Lui-meme. — This remarkable work was intended to be published after the death of Peter, by his sur- viving spouse, the Empress Cathvirine ; but it is sup- posed her short reign put a stop to it. Her namesake, Catharine II., however, caused it to be published at Petersburg in the year 1770, and it was translated and published at Berlin in 1773. It contains a jour- nal of all his military movements, battles, sieges, distribution of his forces, triumphs, promotions, — and, in short, all the principal transactions in which he was engaged during the period mentioned in the title- page. The simplicity of the narrative, the frank avowal of the mistakes he committed, the gratitude he constantly expresses to the Supreme Disposer of events, in his reverses, as well as in his successes — all prove the perfect sincerity as well as the truth of the narrative. To the historian of his military pro- gress and conquests this journal of the Emperor must always be invaluable. The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia. By Alexander Gordon of Achintoul, several years a Major-general in the Tzar's service. — General Gordon was personally acquainted with many of the exploits of the Tzar Peter narrated in his history. He re- ceived a commission from him as major about the year 1693 or 1694, was speedily promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was present at the taking of Asoph in 1698. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Narva, and sent into Sweden, where he was detained for several years. On his return, he was advanced to the rank of major-general, and sent PREFACE. Xl into Poland ; but on heating of his father's death, he obtained permission in 1711 to quit the Russian service and return to his native country, Scotland. That portion only of his work, therefore, which relates to the period when he was actually in service can be considered as valuable ; the rest is founded on authorities already published at the time of his writing. Travels from St. Petersburg in Russia to various parts of Asia. By John Bell, of Antermony. — Honest John Bell is almost proverbially known as the most faithful of travellers. In the year 1719 he was attached, in a medical capacity, to an embassy sent by Peter the Great to Kang-hee, Emperor of China, and published a very interesting account of the jour- ney and the transactions of the mission in Pekin. In the year 1722 he accompanied the army of Russia, under the immediate command of the Tzar Peter, to the shores of the Caspian, of which journey he pub- lished a " Succinct Relation," containing some curious and interesting incidents, relating to that campaign, connected with the manners and character of Peter and Catharine, who accompanied him. Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, Esq., a military officer in the services of Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain ; containing an account of his travels, dfc. ; as also several very interesting private anecdotes of the Tzar Peter I. of Russia. — Mr. Bruce tells us his Journal was originally written in German, his native language,* and that in the year 1755, on his retire- ment, he translated it into English. In 1 782 it was published for the benefit of his widow. Captain Bruce had many opportunities of seeing and knowing * His father was in the service of Prussia, where he was bom. XIV PREFACE. To the first question Voltaire answered, that it was not his custom to copy implicitly any manuscripts that might be sent to him. To the second, that he must be governed by the best information he could procure ; that the private life of Peter did not come within the limits of his plan, and consequently the anecdotes were not available ; and, as to the third reproach, he sarcastically observes, " as far as relates to the dis- figuring of the proper names, I suppose it is a German who reproaches me with it. — I wish him more wit and fewer consonants." The Journal of Peter the Great was sent to Vol- taire in manuscript, and whenever he has made use of it he has done so faithfully and accurately. But he is highly blameable in casting a stigma on what he calls " pretended histories of Peter the Great, most of which have been compiled from gazettes ;" and his designating " that which was printed at Am- sterdam, in four volumes, under the name of the Boyar Nestesuranoi," as " one of those impositions too frequently practised by booksellers." The name is certainly an imposition, as we have noticed ; but all the documents it contains, and the history con- nected with, and drawn from, those documents, are authentic. But that which renders Voltaire the more blameable in his censure is, that the foundation of his own history, the arrangement, and in many places the language, are drawn from this said work of Nes- tesuranoi, and his copyist Colonel John Mottley. This is disingenuous, and unworthy the high charac- ter of Voltaire. Rusland en de Nederlanden Beschoud in derselver Wederkeerige Betrekkingen door Mr. Jacobus Schel- tema. 4 vols. — These volumes contain chiefly an historical account of the commercial intercourse be- PREFACE. XV tween Holland and Russia, from its commencement to the death of Peter the Great. This work is chiefly interesting from the details given of the conduct and proceedings of this extraordinary man during his residence in Holland, taken from authentiy docu- ments, and particularly from Noomerts Diary of the Residence of the Tzar Peter at Zaandam. It does not appear to have been translated either into French or English. Original Anecdotes of Peter the Great, collected from the conversation of several persons of distinction at Petersburg and Moscow. By M. Stcehlin, member of the Imperial Academy at Petersburg. — About ten years after the death of Peter the Great, that is in the year 1735, M. Stsehlin was invited to fill a seat in the Academy of Sciences at Petersburg. He lived at the house of the Count of Lynar, envoy-extraor- dinary from King Augustus of Poland to the court of Russia, where he tells us he became acquainted with many persons of distinction, as well foreigners as Russians, several of whom had not only served in the fleet and army, or held civil employments under Peter the Great, but had also been much about his person. He was likewise honoured with the appoint- ment of tutor, and afterward librarian, to the Great Duke Peter Feodorovitz. These situations afforded him opportunities of collecting anecdotes concerning the manners, character, and actions, both as regarded the public and private life of the Tzar Peter; they amount in number to more than one hundred, many of which are highly interesting, and well vouched for by most respectable authorities. In addition to these were consulted, the Travels of Mr. Coxe ; the History of Russia by Tooke ; La Biographie Universale ; the works of Le General XVI PREFACE. Compte de Segur, La Combe, Fontenelle, Levesgue, &c; from which such passages only were selected as tended to confirm the statements made by other authorities. It will be obvious that, out of such a mass of materials, and in so small a volume, the great leading points only of the life and transactions of such a personage as Peter the Great could be comprehended, and of these, few, it is hoped, will be found to have been omitted. A MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF PETER THE GREAT. CHAPTER I. The Birth of the Tzar Peter L— The Intrigues of his Family- Revolt of the Strelitzes or Russian Janizaries — The Regency of Sophia — The Tzar ascends the Throne. We shall certainly not err in pronouncing the Tzar Peter 1. of Russia to have been one of the most extraordinary men that ever appeared in any age or country; but whether he merited the title of Great, which his own countrymen have bestowed on him, and the rest of Europe has sanctioned, it would seem to be necessary to know, in the first place, something of the state of the country to which he was by universal admission a benefactor, when he first began to govern it, and the state in which he left it; and, in the second place, what were the means employed, and the resources at his command, by which he was enabled to extend its limits, to secure its peace, and to improve the condition and raise the moral qualities of his subjects. In the review which is now proposed to be taken of the life of this extraordinary man, the latter point will be fully explained by the acts he performed and B2 18 MEMOIR OF the regulations he established. The means he em- ployed to attain his ends were sometimes severe and unsparing enough, but, in general, only where sever- ity appeared to be necessary. If, however, heroic* exploits, chivalrous adventures, and hazardous en- terprises, undertaken with the view of gratifying personal vanity or ambition, or of exciting mere ad- miration, be thought essential to the composition of a great character, Peter 1. will have no chance of competing, in these respects, with " the Macedonian madman or the Swede." In him we neither find the boundless but barren ambition of the one, nor the desperate and fatal obstinacy of the other. " It has been settled in men's* minds," says Voltaire, "that Charles XII. wgs worthy of having the first post in the army under Peter the Great — the one has left nothing behind him bat ruins — the other is, in every respect, the founder of an empire." In fact, the am- bition of Peter extended not beyond the improve- ment and prosperity of his country, for which he laboured incessantly through a life of restless activ- ity. Russia was to him all in all ; her welfare and her glory engaged his daily thoughts ; and those ex- cesses and little eccentricities which appear childish and frivolous, as well as those more serious and op- posite acts of severity, which all must condemn, had each of them a motive pointing to some end, and that generally a benevolent one. In the execution of his great designs for the improvement of his 1 country, no difficulties nor dangers ever stood in his way ; his indefatigable activity — the perseverance and intrepidity which enabled him to overcome all obstacles, and brave the most imminent perils — and all for the love of country — are the proud qualifica- tions that entitle him to the name of Great. With regard to the state of Russia, before and at the time of Peter, it will only be necessary to turn to the pages of every writer, from Hakluyt down to that period, to be satisfied of the extreme ignorance PETER THE GREAT. 19 and barbarism of Muscovy. A glimmering of light may be said to have broken in during the reign of Alexis Michaelovitz (the father of Peter the Great),V who died in 1677. He was one of the best princes I that had sat on the throne of Muscovy. The estab- lishment of some of the principal manufactures was begun during his reign ; he added the fine provinces of Plescow and ■ Smolensko to his dominions; he reformed the laws, and reduced them to something like a code ; he curbed the ambition of the patriarch, who arrogantly claimed to have the highest seat in council; and he opposed the usurpations of the church. He endeavoured to introduce a regular sys- tem of military tactics and discipline into the army through the means of the foreign generals Gordon, Leslie, and Dalziel. He was fully sensible of the benefits to be derived from the superior knowledge of foreign officers and artificers. Among the latter were some Dutch ship-builders, who met with great encouragement ; for he cherished the ambition of making Russia a maritime power, and of forming fleets on the Black Sea and the Caspian. Thus then Alexis may be said to have laid the foundation on which Peter erected his own and his country's glory. Most of his schemes however failed, from the oppo- sition they met with from the barbarous natives, who had an inveterate dislike to foreigners and for- eign institutions. By means of some Germans and Italians, he made an attempt to establish silk and cotton manufactories, which also failed ; but he was more successful in sending several Polish, Swedish, and Tartar prisoners of war to cultivate lands on the banks of the Volga. This prince was twice mar- ried ; first to a daughter of the Boyar Milovslanski, and secondly to a beautiful young lady of the family of Nariskin, by whom he had Peter, the subject of this memoir, and a daughter. The circumstances which led to this marriage, and the manner in which candidates for becoming brides were at that time 20 MEMOIR OF exhibited for selection, will show the low state in which the female part of society was then held by the Muscovites. The Boyar Matveof, minister for foreign affairs, was honoured with the particular confidence of Alexis. The latter going one evening to his house without attendants, as was frequently his custom, found the table covered, and said to Matveof in a familiar way, " Your supper looks so inviting that it tempts me to partake of it, but it must be on condi- tion that nothing be altered on my account." He was scarcely seated when the wife of Matveof made her appearance, followed by her only son and a young lady. The Tzar insisted on their sitting down, though contrary to the usual custom, and the young lady was placed opposite the royal guest. He ob- served her with great attention, and then said, " I thought your son was your only child." — "Your ma- jesty," said the minister, " is right ; this young lady is the daughter of Kyrilla Nariskin, a relation and friend, who lives on his own estate ; my wife has undertaken her education, and, with the blessing of God, we hope to settle her honourably in the world. The family having retired, the Tzar observed to the minister that he ought to think of a suitable match for the young lady. The minister replied, that although endowed with good and amiable qualities, she was far from being rich, and that his own circumstances would not allow him to give her any considerable portion. Some days after this, the Tzar returned to the subject of the young lady, and told Matveof he had found a gentleman who might probably be agreeable to her ; one not destitute of merit, and who, besides, needed no fortune with his wife ; " one," he added, " who is already in love with your ward, and wishes to marry and make her happy." Matveof, of course, was anxious to know who this suitor was ; and after some further discourse on the subject, the Tzar said " Well, Matveof, you may PETER THE GREAT. 21 tell the young lady it is I who am in love with her, and am determined to make her my wife." The minister, thunderstruck at so unexpected a declaration, fell at the feet of the Tzar, and entreated his majesty, for the love of God, not to think of it ; said that he had many enemies at court, who already beheld with envious eyes the particular marks of kindness with which his majesty deigned to honour him ; that their jealousy would be evinced if, to the mortification of all the noble families, his majesty should condescend to marry so humble a girl, who was under his care. The Tzar told him he had nothing to fear ; that his determination was taken, and would not be altered. " Since then it is so," said Matveof, " I have one favour to beg, as well for the sake of Natalia as for myself ; which is, that you will not carry your wishes into execution without conforming to the usual custom of the country, and thus saving appearances ; assemble at your court the daughters of the most distinguished families, among whom Natalia will be present, and let your majesty's choice be made in public." The Tzar approved his minister's advice, and promised to follow it. A few weeks after this, Alexis declared, before his assembled ministers, and to the heads of the clergy, his intention of making a second marriage, and ordered them to call together the unmarried daughters of the principal nobility, in order that he might make his choice. About sixty young ladies of high birth and great beauty were assembled, adorned, as may well be supposed, in all the splen- dour of dress and decoration, but Natalia Nariskin was the lady selected, and raised at once to the throne. This event took place at Moscow in Sep- tember, 1670.* * Stsehlin's Original Anecdotes. Communicated by the Countess Roumanzoif, granddaughter to Matveof. 22 MEMOIR OF The Tzar Alexis, at his death, in 1G77, left two sons, Theodore and John, and four daughters, Sophia, Catharine, Mary, and Sediassa, by his first wife ; and one son and one daughter, Peter and Natalia Alex- owna, by the second, above mentioned. Theodore, his eldest son, succeeded to the throne ; but being of a weak constitution and subject to disease, his life was considered likely to be of short duration. It was the general custom, at that time, to send the female issue to pass their lives in a convent ; but the Princess Sophia, a lady of a masculine spirit and great penetration, foreseeing what might happen, and that her brother John, being afflicted with epi- leptic fits and other infirmities, was wholly unfit to assume the reins of government, in the event of the demise of Theodore, conceived a plan to escape from the convent. In order to secure a better opportunity of carrying her scheme into effect, she represented to the ministers the unhappy condition of her brother Theodore, and the cruelty of being shut up at a distance from one whom she so tenderly loved, when suffering on a bed of sickness. Under this pretence of sisterly affection and zeal she was permitted to leave the convent ; and by her unre- mitting attention to her brother, her insinuating manners, and affable behaviour to the persons about the court, she became a universal favourite; in short, being, as Gordon says, "of a superior but dangerous genius," she soon found herself in a fair way to the assumption, in her own person, of the supreme authority. As the most certain means of forwarding her views, she selected Prince Galitzin for the head of her party, — a man of great ability, and as artful and intriguing as his protectress. Sup- ported by her influence, he found means to carry on the affairs of government, during the reign of Theo- dore, which closed by his death, in 1682, in the twenty-second year of his age. Leaving no issue behind him, and deeming his own brother John, on PETER THE GREAT. 23 account of his many infirmities, wholly unfit for the responsibilities of empire, he had been advised to name for his successor on the throne his half-brother Peter, who, though only ten years of age, had already given indication of his masculine character. Sophia, enraged at her own brother being thus set aside, formed a bold design, at the head of which she engaged in her service Couvanski, the general of the Strelitzes. This corps, if a turbulent and undis- ciplined gang of armed men deserve to be so called, bore a close resemblance to the janizaries of the Turks, or the Praetorian guards of Rome ; and, like them, could create or depose a sovereign according to their good-will and pleasure. With a view to exasperate the people, and the Strelitzes in parti- cular, a rumour was industriously spread abroad, by the satellites of Galitzin and Couvanski, that the Tzar Theodore had been poisoned. The Strelitzes, being called together, were addressed by Couvanski, whose speech excited these rabble troops to the highest pitch of fury. They forthwith murdered the two physicians who had attended the deceased Tzar; and having accomplished this, the next step was to mark out several of the chief officers of the crown for destruction; some of whom were actually thrown over the balustrade of the imperial palace, and re- ceived on the pikes of the soldiers. The Princes Dolgorouki and Matveof, Nariskin, the brother of the young Tzarina, Prince Soltikoff, and many other persons of distinction, that had made themselves obnoxious to the Strelitzes, or to Sophia, were put to death by them ; several even of their own colonels and other officers, who were not in favour with the rabble, fell by their hands. It is stated by General Alexander Gordon, and other writers, that this affair originated in the colonels having refused the pay due to these troops, and that, on this account, they in- flicted the battogues on nine of these officers, a 24 MEMOIR OF punishment which is precisely the lamlooing of the Chinese ; and the sufferers, in both of them, are obliged to thank their executioners. It was suggested as the only means of arresting this bloody tumult, that the unfortunate Prince John, so grievously incapacitated for a throne — (since he was nearly blind, could hardly articulate, and had been from infancy subject to epileptic fits) — should, nevertheless, be proclaimed Tzar conjointly with his brother Peter. As soon as the horrible massacre had terminated, the two young princes were proclaimed joint sovereigns, and Sophia as regent ; and this ambitious lady seated herself be- tween the two mock sovereigns, — an idiot and a child. Voltaire says she approved of these outrages, conferred rewards on the officers of the Strelitzes, by bestowing on the murderers the estates of the murdered and proscribed ; that she allowed them to erect a monument, on which an inscription recorded the names of those they had massacred, who were represented thereon as traitors to their country; and that she caused a ukase to be published, in which these murderous wretches were thanked for their zeal and fidelity. General Alexander Gordon, a decided partisan of Peter, is the principal accuser of Sophia in this affair, in which there are some grounds for infer- ring she had no concern, at least in its commence- ment, and that the revolt of the Strelitzes was chiefly occasioned, as he himself states, by large arrears of pay due, as well as by their hatred of many of their superior officers.* When the terror and dismay had subsided, a council was assembled, at which most of the nobles were present, when it was determined to punish the authors of this daring rebellion ; the result of which was, that the most * Gordon's Hist, of Peter the Great. PETER THE GREAT. 25 active among the officers and their abetters, and near two thousand of the soldiers, who had been decimated, were put to death. When these horrors first burst forth, the two Princes, John and Peter, fled with their mother and sister, and the family of the Nariskins, to the Troitski or Trinity Convent, about fifteen leagues from Moscow, where some German officers and soldiers were sent for their protection. It is stated by several authors that two of the Strelitzes dashed after the fugitives into the convent, and that one of them, with uplifted sword, was about to smite young Peter, who with his mother had taken refuge by the altar ; but his companion exclaimed, " Comrade, not before the altar !" This merciful man would appear to have been actuated less by feelings of humanity than of early prejudice, which had taught him to respect the sanctity of the place. Sophia all this time kept quiet, and managed mat- ters so well as to escape detection, if not suspicion. She had now, indeed, nearly reached the height of her ambition, by being placed in the enjoyment of all the honour and the power of sovereignty; her ibust was stamped on the public coin ; her hand was put to all despatches ; she had the first seat in coun- cil ; and her sway might be said to be without con- trol. She procured a wife for her brother John, from the house of Soltikof, one of the family of him who was murdered. The marriage took place at I Moscow in 1684. Scarcely had this ceremony been I concluded, when another conspiracy was formed by | Couvanski, who, as in like cases not unfrequently (happens, found himself neglected by Sophia, from jthe moment she had attained her present elevation, (to which he had in so essential a manner con- tributed. It was even said that he aimed at nothing less than her hand, as the first step to the imperial dignity ; and that, in order the more surely to ac- , eomplish these ends, his design was to massacre the C 26 MEMOIR OF two Tzars, the princesses, with the exception of Sophia, and all those of the nobility who were attached to the court. This horrible plot being discovered, all the royal family again fled to the Troitski monastery, which was at the same time a fortress and a place of sanctity, From this place Sophia pretended to negotiate with Couvanski, and managed matters so well as to decoy him within the lines ; when he was seized and instantly beheaded, with the whole of his officers who accompanied him. Some say the plot was laid for seizing him by Galitzin, and that he was waylaid by 200 horsemen in the road to the Troitski monastery. This is not improbable, as the princess had taken Prince Basil Galitzin as her first counsellor in all affairs of state. The regiments of the Strelitzes, being apprized of the fate of their leader, again flew to arms ; but on the boyars assembling their vassals, and the other troops of the empire being put in march for the con- vent, about four thousand of these turbulent men laid down their arms, and received a pardon from the triumvirate. Gordon, who was present, states that the young Tzar Peter with great difficulty was prevailed on to assent to the executions that took place, until the patriarch had succeeded in persuad- ing him of the necessity ; and by his account, this rebellion was not accompanied by those barbarities which various writers have ascribed to it.* All this happened in 1685, when Peter was but thirteen years of age. As to his education, in such troublesome times, and associated with such persons, * General Patrick Gordon, here mentioned, must not be con- founded with General Alexander Gordon, who has published a Life of Peter the Great. The former kept a very voluminous diary, which has never yet been published. It is mentioned by Coxe as being shut up in the archives of Moscow; but it was in England not long ago, and probably will be again. It com- mences with January, 1684, and continues to 1698. He was a freat friend and adviser of the Tzar Alexis, and also of young 'eter, who sat by his death-bed and closed his eyes. PETER THE GREAT. 27 it is not likely to have been of the best description. His father on his death-bed, when Peter was scarcely five years of age, appointed as his governor a general officer called Menesius, a native of Scot- land , probably Menzies, that name being generally pronounced Meensie. He is represented as a per- son well qualified for that situation, being thoroughly acquainted with all the affairs of Europe, and speak- ing most of the European languages : but when the princess Sophia conspired against her infant brother, rinding she was unable to prevail on Menesius to abandon the interests of Peter, she compelled him to give up the trust which her father had reposed in him. It is rather remarkable that so little is known of the history of this gentleman. In the reign of Alexis, in the year 1672, Menesius was sent by that Tzar as ambassador to Rome, to negotiate for the re-union of the Greek and Romish churches, but on conditions that were deemed inadmissible. The pope indeed refused to acknowledge the title of Tzar, as having too near an affinity to that of Cesar ; his holiness being ignorant, it would seem, that it is a borrowed title from that held by the petty princes of the East, descended from the house of Gengis- Khan. It does not appear that any governor was appointed to succeed Menesius, nor is any account given of the plan of Peter's education ; but it is more than probable that the general belief, of its being entirely and purposely neglected., is true, and that he was mainly indebted to the strength of his own natural genius for those transcendent abilities which he dis- played in after-life. His sister Sophia is accused of having placed about him a set of debauched young men, who led him into every kind of excess, by which she hoped to destroy his health and impair his intellect, but it is difficult to give credit to such baseness. In point of fact, it could not be so, as 28 MEMOIR OF Peter was placed under the immediate guardianship of his mother; and Sophia contented herself by undertaking the education of John, for which she was well qualified, being an accomplished and ele- gant scholar. Scheltema observes that the masters and teachers of the young prince remain unknown, but that a countryman of his, of the name of Francis Timmerman, was his first instructer in arithmetic, mathematics, and fortification. It is also said that several other Dutchmen, among whom was Andreas Winius, and the Dane, Ysbrands Ides, were in the service of the two Tzars, and held in great esteem at court, both of whom were very capable of giving instruction to young Peter.* After Moscow and the state had once more re- gained their usual tranquillity, Sophia continued to possess and to exercise the chief authority, Peter being yet too young, or too diffident, to take any active share, and John utterly incapable of acting. She thought it necessary, however, to share her power with Prince Basil Galitzin, a man of superior education and first-rate abilities, of an active, enter- prising spirit, and indefatigable application. His first step was to distribute the mutinous ' Strelitzes among the regiments in the distant provinces of the empire. His attention was next drawn towards the Crimea, the khan of which had insolently demanded of Russia an annual tribute of sixty thousand rubles, in imitation of that which the Turk had imposed on Poland. Galitzin and Sophia were determined to wipe off the insult of such a proposal. For this purpose they ordered preparations to be made for a vigorous war against the Tartars of the Crimea, to which they were further urged by the Poles, who had surrendered to Russia the duchy of Smolensko, the Ukraine, and some other territories (which she had, in fact, conquered from them), on the condition * Rusland en de Nederlanden beschouwd, &c, door Jacobus Scheltema. PETER THE GREAT. 29 of her opposing the incursions of these people into Poland. Galitzin reluctantly undertook the command of this expedition ; and when all was ready, he marched, in 1687, with a considerable army, which was further augmented by the junction of a body of Cossacks, towards the Crimea. His troops were for the most part undisciplined, badly armed, and worse clothed, and but little inured to the hardships of a campaign. Having failed to reach Perecop, on account of the great plains being burnt up, and no water to be had, he returned to the river Samara, which falls into the Volga in about the 53d degree of latitude, where he employed his men in building a town of wooden houses, and erecting and storing magazines for the next campaign. Galitzin laid the blame of his failure on his ally, the Cossack chief, whom, with his son, the council banished into Siberia, where they per- ished in great misery. In 1689 it was determined to send another and more considerable army against the Crimea, and Galitzin was again appointed to the command. The hetman, or chief of the Cossacks, who had succeeded the unfortunate man, was Mazeppa, the very man whom Lord Byron has immortalized in verse, and Astley caricatured on the stage. Galitzin again failed of making any impression on the Tartars, or of compelling them to forego their demand of tribute. The result of these unsuccessful campaigns tended, among other things, to the ruin of the favourite minister. During his absence, the party opposed to him and to Sophia had brought about the marriage of the Tzar Peter, then about seventeen, to a young lady named Ottokesa Federowna Lapouchin, daughter of the boyar Feodor Abrahamavitz. This step, taken without consulting the Princess Sophia, was highly resented by her* but approved by all the first families C2 30 MEMOIR of; in Moscow. Galitzin, on his return, found all his plans destroyed by this marriage, and all his hopes utterly blasted, on its being announced that the new Tzarina was pregnant. Yoltaire states, on the au- thority of Neuville, the Polish envoy, who resided at Moscow, and was eyewitness to what passed, that Sophia and Galitzin engaged the new chief of the Strelitzes to sacrifice the young Tzar to their ambition ; that at least six hundred of these soldiers were ordered to seize on the person of the prince ; and he adds, " the secret memoirs with which I have been intrusted by the court of Russia affirm that a scheme had been laid to murder Peter the First." The Tzar was once more obliged to save himself in the Convent of the Trinity, where he assembled the boyars of his party, and a large body of soldiers, and all that he knew to be attached to his person. The accomplices were all seized, and punished with great severity, by the knout or the battogues, and then be- headed. Tekilavetof, the chief of the Strelitzes, was put to the torture, confessed the whole, and was then beheaded. Prince Galitzin escaped with life by the intercession of a namesake and relation, who was a favourite of Peter, but his immense estate was for- feited, and he was banished to the neighbourhood of Archangel. His sentence, according to Neuville, was expressed in the following terms, which agrees with what is stated by Nestesuranoi :* — " Thou art commanded by the most merciful Tzar to retire to Karga, a town under the pole, and there to pass the remainder of thy days. His majesty, out of his ex- cessive benevolence, allows thee for subsistence three copecks per day. His justice ordains that all thy property be confiscated to the treasury." On this Voltaire observes, " There is no town under the pole, and the person who dictated this sentence must * Mem. du R£gne de Pierre le Grand. PETER THE GREAT. 31 have been a very bad geographer ; but," he adds, " it is said Neuville was imposed upon by a false ac- count."* Galitzin survived his fall twenty-four years; he was recalled from banishment in 1711, and died on his own estate two years after his liberation. The Princess Sophia was confined to a convent in Moscow, where she remained till her death, which happened in the year 1704, fifteen years afterward. Peter was now the real and only sovereign, for his brother John had no other share of the government than that of lending his name to the public acts. His short life was spent in retire- ment, and he died in 1696. CHAPTER II. The Tzar creates a Navy, and new-models his Army — Le Fort — Menzikoff— Gordon— First Attack on Azoph fails — The sec- ond succeeds — Conspiracy discovered and defeated. Hitherto the young Tzar P^ter had taken no prominent part in any of these turbulent proceed- ings. It would appear that he advisedly kept him- self aloof, in the midst of the commotions that dis- tracted the capital and its neighbourhood. It is prob- able enough, that possessing only a divided author- ity, and considering his youth, it might have been deemed prudent by his friends and advisers to pre- vent any interference, on his part, with one party or the other. It is not likely, however, that a young man of his active and restless disposition should * This is hypercriticism ; but Neuville, in fact, is generally very little deserving of credit. He was one of those diplomatic characters who endeavour to pick up all the gossip they can, to fill a despatch for their employers, at their respective courts. 32 MEMOIR OF have spent his time in idleness, between the Krem- lin and the Trinity Convent, or that he was unobser- vant of what was passing around him. Neither does there appear to be any ground for the accusation, which has been preferred against the party of Sophia, that either she or they were base enough to encour- age an inclination, which he is said to have early discovered, for indulging in brandy and other strong liquors, or that they had contrived to put upon him companions well suited to train him up in every species of intemperance and debauchery.* Vol- taire, who copies Nestesuranoi, says, " His educa- tion was far from being worthy of his genius ; it had been spoiled chiefly by the Princess Sophia, whose interest it was to leave him in ignorance, and to indulge him in those excesses which in persons of his rank, age, and circumstances it had been but too much the custom to overlook. From his feast- ing and conversing with foreigners, who had been invited to Moscow by Prince Galitzin, no one could have suspected that he was to be one day the re- former of his country."! There is, however, every reason to believe that the statement of his time being spent in idleness and debauchery is much ex- aggerated, but that a considerable portion of it must have been dedicated to the acquirement of the me- chanical arts and handicraft works ; and this is the more probable, as, on his arrival at Zaandam,J in * Holland, it was observed that he was not unac- quainted with the use of the adze, the plane, and the lathe. Be this as it may, the moment he became invested with sole and supreme authority, — for his brother John never interfered, — his genius shone forth with a lustre that dazzled all eyes, and the development of I * Memoires du Regne de Pierre le Grand. ; + History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great t Generally, but improperly, written Saardam. PETER THE GREAT. 33 the vigorous powers of his mind was a subject of universal wonder and admiration. He was now in his eighteenth year, tall, stout, well-made, and hand- some ; the features of his countenance regular, but indicating, when displeased or thoughtful, a degree of severity that was far from agreeable ; but when his passions were not excited he was lively, cheer- ful, and sociable. Full of energy and activity, he found nothing too arduous for his conception ; and as a proof that his youth had not been wasted in thoughtlessness, he commenced at once the vast pro- ject, which he must have previously revolved in his mind, of changing the whole system of the govern- ment, and of reforming the manners of his people. The first object to which he directed his attention, as being the most important, was the reformation of t the army, and of the establishments for conducting » military affairs. He next instituted an inquiry into the state of the civil government, and the principles on which it was administered. To assist him in his various plans, he encouraged the introduction of ', Germans into the empire, some of whom had already established themselves in Moscow, where they ex- ercised their various trades and manufactures ; and the Dutch, who were in considerable numbers, were held in especial favour, particularly for their skill in ship-building and navigation. It is remarked by most of Peter's biographers, that from his infancy he had such a dread of water 1 as amounted absolutely to hydrophobia ; that he could not pass a brook without being thrown into a cold sweat and convulsions. The cause of this dread of water is ascribed to his being one day, when about J four or five years old, lying asleep on his mother's ! lap in a carriage, and suddenly awakened by the ap- proach to a waterfall or cataract, the rushing noise of which had such an effect on his nerves as to ! bring on a fever. It is not uncommon to invent, or exaggerate, juvenile accidents in order to account 34 MEMOIR OF for personal defects or eccentricities, which are, for the most part, hereditary or constitutional. If, how- ever, he had this aversion, he determined to con- quer it ; and, by practising in a small boat on the river which passes through Moscow, he not only succeeded, but became so passionately fond of the water, and took such delight in managing this little 4 boat, that it may be said, and in fact he himself con- sidered it to have been, the germ of the Russian navy. It had been built, in the reign of Peter's father, by a Dutchman of the name of Brandt, whom that sovereign had invited into Russia. Peter, hav- ing accidentally seen this small bark, and noticed it to be different from the flat pontoons he had been accustomed to look at, inquired of Timmerman who taught him fortification, " Why it was made so unlike other vessels ?" the reply was, that it was con- structed to sail against the wind. There was some- thing new in this, and therefore sufficient to excite his curiosity ; Brandt was immediately summoned, and having, at Peter's desire, masted, rigged, and re- paired her, showed him how to sail her on the Yausa, to the surprise and delight of the young Tzar, who from that time undertook, and very soon succeeded in, the management of the vessel himself. Brandt was now engaged to build for him a sort of small yacht, and when finished, a Dutch seaman was procured to assist him in navigating her. By degrees he learned to manage this little vessel as skilfully as his master ; and became so delighted with sailing, and no doubt so well satisfied of its import- ance, that he engaged the Hollanders to build him no less than five vessels at Plescow, or, as the charts have it, Pscow on the great lake Peipus.* As soon as these vessels were ready and manned,, Peter took with him his friend General Patrick Gor- don, who embarked with him, and kept a log of theur * Scheltema Rusland en de Nederlanden, PETER THE GREAT. 35 proceedings. But the limits of a lake, though sixty leagues in circumference, were too confined for the rising ambition of the Tzar, who now resolved to see what a ship could do on the wide ocean ; and for this purpose he set out for Archangel, where he pur- chased a trading vessel from a Dutch merchant there, to which he gave the name of Peter. Having en- gaged a crew from the trading vessels at that port, he, accompanied by a Dutch ship of war and some Dutch and English merchantmen, proceeded as far as Ponoi on the coast of Lapland, about 150 miles from Archangel ; and thus for the first time, says the Dutch author, " the Frozen Ocean had the honour of bearing a monarch on its bosom." His taste for navigation had now grown into a kind of passion; and he carried it so far as often to expose himself to imminent danger. His confidence in his know- ledge as a navigator and pilot rendered him intrepid in the highest degree. When overtaken by a storm, and the sea broke over his vessel, he was so far from feeling any thing like fear, that he used to encourage his frightened crew with words like these, " Never fear, the Tzar Peter cannot be drowned : did you ever hear of a Russian Tzar having perished on the water V Like Caesar, he trusted to his fortunes. — " I always am the Tzar." And might say, with that great commander, — " Danger knows fall well, That Peter is more dangerous than he : We were two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible." Peter, some time after this, visited Archangel again, and remained from three to four months, in the course of which he contracted an intimacy with a Dutch skipper of the name of Musch, a native of Zaandam, and frequently went to sea in his vessel. One day he told Musch that, as he had regularly ad- vanced in his new army from a drummer to his 36 MEMOIR OF present rank, which was yet only that of a subaltern, he was likewise desirous of going through all the steps that were considered necessary to make a per- fect seaman. Musch thought the Tzar was in jest, but his majesty soon convinced him to the contrary, by saying that he would go to sea with him the next day, and dedicate that day to his passing through all the gradations of a seaman's servitude, and actu- ally performing the duties of each. He first served as a zwabber, or common drudge, who swept the cabin and swabbed the decks ; this done, he was ap- pointed knecht, or servant, whose duty was to light and keep up the fire in a little stove, to prime the skipper's pipe, brush his jacket, &c. ; he then be- came kajuitwachter, or cabin boy, whose duty was to wait at table, serve out brandy or gin, and to make grog. He was now prepared to commence seaman- ship, and the next step of advancement was to the situation of yong matroos, or young sailor, and by orders of his captain, to go aloft, hand or loose the sails, &c. Here Musch began to be greatly alarmed, on seeing Peter run up the shrouds to the masthead, lest he should fall down and break his neck. All this may appear trifling, but Peter had an object in it. He had resolved that, both in the sea and land service, the officers should commence with the very lowest rank, and that his own example should pre- vent all murmuring. The skipper Musch died shortly after this, and Peter sent a gratuity to his widow at Zaandam of five hundred guilders. Another ami- able trait in his character while at Archangel de- serves to be recorded. Overtaken one day, when out at sea, in a storm, Peter, more than usually anx- ious, was instructing the helmsman how to steer, and having, at the same time, taken hold of the tiller, " Stand out of my way," called out the impatient seaman ; " I must know better than you how to steer the vessel." Having brought her through a danger- ous passage among the rocks to a safe anchorage, the PETER THE GREAT. 37 poor fellow, recollecting what had passed, fell at the feet of the Tzar, and prayed forgiveness for his rude- ness. Peter took him up, and, as usual when pleased, kissed his forehead — " There is nothing to forgive," said he ; "I owe you my thanks, not alone for our rescue from danger, but also for the proper rebuke you gave me." He then made him a present of his drenched clothes, and settled on him a small pen- sion.* This passion for sailing continued through life, but he indulged it as well through policy as inclination ; having, at a very early period of his reign, seen the expediency, and indeed the necessity, of establish- ing a fleet on the Volga, to keep the Turks and Tar- tars in awe ; and another on Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland, to protect his territories against his powerful neighbours the Swedes. Having one day, at a much later period of his life, invited all the foreign ministers to accompany him in his yacht on a water-party to Cronstadt, to see his fleet, then ready for sea, a sudden thunder-storm arose ; the sea got up, and the waves, dashing furiously against ! the little vessel, threatened her with momentary de- struction. The ministers were dreadfully alarmed, while Peter and his crew appeared to be wholly un- concerned. They entreated him to put back to Pe- tersburgh, or to land them, if possible, at Peterhoff; but, attentive to the steering of the vessel, he calmly said, " Don't be alarmed, gentlemen," and continued |to direct the helmsman, and to work the ship. At length, one of the ministers approached him, with a Igrave and fearful countenance: — "I beseech your majesty," said he, " for the love of God to return to iPetersburgh, or to Peterhoff, which is still nearer, jand not to forget that my court did not send me to (Russia to be drowned : if I should perish here, as in all likelihood I shall, your majesty will have to an- * Scheltema, on the authority of Van Halem. D 38 MEMOIR OF swerto the king my master." On hearing this, the Tzar could not help smiling, notwithstanding the vessel was in some danger. " Sir," said he, " if you are drowned, we shall all share the same fate, and nobody will be left to answer for your excellency."* But the army, as we have said, was the first great object of his attention. In his childhood he was particularly delighted with beating the drum, and " playing at soldiers ;" and the taste for a military life, as he advanced in years, is supposed to have accompanied him to his obscure retirement in the Trinity convent. In his first attempt to form a body of disciplined troops, he was ably assisted by a foreigner, for whom he had conceived the strong- est attachment, and who never left him till he was taken away by death. To this excellent man Russia may truly be said to stand indebted for the able ad- vice and assistance he gave to Peter, in laying the solid foundation of that true grandeur and prosperity to which, in later times, she has advanced. This remarkable man, Mr. Francis Le Fort, the son of a respectable merchant of Geneva, had imbibed from his childhood a strong inclination for the army ; but, at the particular request of his father, consented to be placed, at an early period of his life, in the count- ing-house of Mr. Franconis, an eminent merchant in Amsterdam.! According to Voltaire, who gives as his authority " General Le Fort's manuscripts," he quitted his father's house at the age of fourteen, and was four years a cadet in the citadel of Marseilles ; from whence he went to Holland, and, serving as a volunteer, was wounded at the siege of Grave, upon the Meuse. The historian adds, that, in expecta- tion of further preferment, he embarked in 1675, in company with a German colonel of the name of Verstin, who had obtained a commission from Peter's * Stehlin. Authority Mr. Bruyns, master-attendant-general f John Mottley's History of the Life of Peter I. PETER THE GREAT. 39 father, the Tzar Alexis, to raise a few troops in the Netherlands, and to transport them to Archangel ; that on their arrival, after a perilous voyage, the Tzar Alexis was no more; the government had undergone a change, and Muscovy was in an unset- tled state ; that the Governor of Archangel suffered them all, for a long time, to languish with want, and even threatened to send them to the extremity of Siberia ; that then, each shifting for himself, Le Fort, in great necessity, made his way to Moscow, where he offered his services to M. de Hoorn, the Danish resident, who made him his secretary. This was in 1690, when Peter was eighteen years of age.* The resident was one of those foreigners whom the Tzar honoured by dining at his table — and there he first took notice of Le Fort. He inquired after his character from M. de Hoorn, and finding that he was a young man of great ability, of modest de- meanour, and had made himself acquainted with the Russian language, he asked the resident if he would be willing to part with him. The resident replied that the exchange was too flattering and advan- tageous to Le Fort, and that he had too much regard for his welfare, and too high a respect for the com- mands of his majesty, not to consent to it. The cheerful, yet modest and unassuming, man- ners of Le Fort, the fund of information he possessed respecting the customs and manners of the Euro- pean courts, at which he had resided, — but, above all, the general knowledge he possessed of military affairs, so delighted the Tzar that he soon became his constant companion and favourite, and was al- ways sent for to accompany him wherever he went. The first mark of his favour was a commission as | captain of infantry. It has been said that Le Fort 'had no great proficiency in the military service, — * Voltaire's History of the Russian Empire under Peter the (Great. 40 MEMOIR OF neither was he a man of literature, nor much con- versant in the abstract sciences, — but that he had seen a great deal, and was capable of forming a right judgment of what he did see.* Such a man, in- debted, as the Tzar himself was, to his own genius for the knowledge he had acquired, was perhaps better suited to be the companion and adviser of Peter, than one more deeply skilled in the arts and sciences, but less agreeable in his manners. Peter had great reason, from past experience, to place no confidence in those of his generals who were chosen from among the corps of Strelitzes ; and had determined to replace them by regular and well-disciplined officers — such as Le Fort had told him were to be found in the armies of Europe, and especially at the courts of Austria and Denmark. With this view, he one day sounded Le Fort as to his opinion with regard to his present guards, and desired he would give it freely. In reply, he said he thought the same of them as of the rest of his soldiers — that they were a fine body of well-made men, who required only to be well officered, dis- ciplined, and properly accoutred, to make excellent soldiers ; but that, in the first place, their long coats must be laid aside, being unbecoming, inconvenient, and troublesome ; that their beards must be shaved ; their hair properly dressed ; and concluded his ob- servations by proposing that he would make a trial of the changes he should recommend, on a small scale. Peter resolved on this, as he did on most occasions, at once. He immediately took Le Fort to his country residence of Preobrazinski, where a company of fifty men were selected from among the sons of the neighbouring boyars and the younger part of the domestics, whom he clothed and ac- coutred en militaire ; and having chosen a few of the youths, sons of the boyars, to be the officers, the work * Voltaire— -in which General Gordon pretty nearly agrees. PETER THE GREAT. 41 of training the little corps according to the Euro- pean tactics of the day immediately began. It is unlikely that the Tzar should not have taken an active part in the training ; and the story is not very probable that Le Fort took the whole on himself, without consulting the Tzar. When all was ready, Peter however was highly pleased with their ap- pearance and manoeuvres, and desired that he might be instantly enrolled in the company as a private soldier. He directed also that the young boyars, following his example, should all become privates, and serve in succession in that capacity, rising grad- ually to the rank of corporal, sergeant, ensign, before they obtained a commission as lieutenant. Such is stated to have been the origin of that celebrated regi- ment, known afterward by the name of the Preo- brazenski Guards. The Tzar was thus enabled, from this small begin- ning, to raise, in a very short space of time, a corps of five thousand disciplined troops in whom he could confide ; trained, mostly, by General Patrick Gordon, and composed, for the most part, of foreigners. Le Fort himself undertook to raise another corps of twelve thousand men, from foreigners, natives, and chiefly from the Strelitzes, which he accomplished ; and for which the Tzar created him their general. Voltaire says, on the authority of Le Fort's manu- scripts, that one-third of this army, which was called only a regiment, consisted of French refugees ; and , this, he observes, confounds the impertinence of , those who pretend that France lost very few inhab- itants by the revocation of the edict of Nantes.* I Peter would not suffer this newly-raised army to re- i main inactive in time of peace, and thus relax in its (discipline. He caused them to be frequently exer- i cised in mock sieges and sham engagements ; and, it is said, sueh was their ardour and desire of dis- * Voltaire, Histoire, &c D2 42 MEMOIR OF tinction, that they sometimes fought a real battle^ when a sham-fight only was intended, in which seve- ral of the men were killed and wounded ; and that in one of these Le Fort received a considerable wound.* In the midst of these military sports, if they may be so called, the Tzar was not unmindful of his navy. His Dutch and Venetian ship-builders were employed in building gun-boats and sloops of war, at the mouth of a small deep river near Voronitz, which discharges its waters into the Don, or Tanais. These vessels were to be held in readiness to drop down before Asoph, which he was resolved to attack, and, if pos- sible, to secure as a most important post, in the event of a war, which he foresaw would speedily happen, with the Tartars of the Crimea. He visited frequently the progress of their equipment, and on one occasion raised Le Fort to the rank of admiral, in addition to that of general. The advantages to be derived from encouraging foreigners of all de- scriptions to flock into the country were felt and ac- knowledged by the sensible portion of the commu- nity ; but the strangers were regarded with some- thing more than jealousy by the priests and many of the boyars, who considered all innovation as sub- versive of their ancient constitution, which of course was, in their estimation, the best of all possible con- stitutions. An army and a navy, however, were not to be formed and kept up without money; and Peter's finances were in a state of as great disorder as his troops had been. He was therefore honestly ap- prized by Le Fort that his revenues were not in a condition to bear the expenses of what he was de- signing, with regard to the building and equipment of a navy, and the feeding, clothing, and payment of his army, to say nothing of the pay that was due to * Nestesuranoi, Mottley, &c. PETER THE GREAT, 43 the numerous foreign artisans and workmen that were employed about the court, and on the great works that were projected or actually in progress ; but, at the same time, assured him that his revenues were improvable. He pointed out to him, in the first place, the impolicy of exacting such heavy duties on all kinds of merchandise that were imported into Russia, and the equally heavy imposts that were ex- acted on the export of its own produce ; that, in con- sequence of these charges, the merchants were compelled to conspire together how to avoid them, by introducing and sending away articles of com- merce in a clandestine manner, either by craft or by bribing the custom-house officers ; and that, by such means, the revenue was defrauded to a great extent. Convinced of the truth of this repre- sentation, he immediately ordered the duties to be reduced from ten to five per cent., and ordained se- vere penalties on such as should be detected in com- mitting frauds ; the consequence of which was, that, in the very first year of the new regulations, the revenue of the customs was augmented by nearly two millions of rubles. Nor did the benefits bestowed on Russia by Le Fort rest here. The greatest and most important of all was that conferred personally on the Tzar him- self. The influence which he had gained over him was employed in softening the asperity of his temper, and curbing the violence of his passions, to which he was frequently subject. Many a blow was turned aside, and many a life saved, by his timely interfe rence. When a boyar or noble (for they more than others were liable to the knout, or to lose their heads) was ordered for punishment, as often happened on very trifling occasions, Le Fort would interpose, and desire him to suspend his judgment till he became cool ; and not succeeding, as was sometimes the case, he would entreat him to deal the blow upon himself, rather than on the innocent subject of his 44 MEMOIR OF wrath ; and this generally produced a suspension of his anger, and saved the intended victim. By such generosity Le Fort became a universal favourite among all classes of Russians, who seemed to forget he was a foreigner, and were willing to consider him as one of their own countrymen. Another piece of service rendered to the Tzar Peter by M. Le Fort was, the casual introduction of a very remarkable personage, who, from one of the lowest stations in life, became the leading character in all the affairs of state ; — a general, a governor, and ultimately raised to the princely dignity. This was no other than Prince Alexander Menzikoff. It is said by M. de la Motraye, that his parents were in so miserable a condition, in one of the villages on the banks of the Volga, that they could not afford to give to their son the common education of reading and writing ; that he left them at the age of thirteen or fourteen, without saying a word, to seek service in Moscow, where he was taken into that of a pas- try-cook. The daily business of this young lad was to traverse the streets of Moscow, with a little basket of cakes and patties to sell : having a clear and sweet voice, he was in the habit of offering his patties in a song or tune of his own composing ; and being well made, neatly clad, and of a prepossessing face, crowds generally gathered round him, and his basket was soon emptied. It happened one day that this boy caught the attention of General Le Fort,* who called him into the house, and asked him if he would sell his pies and his basket. The boy replied that it was his business to sell his pies, — but as to the basket, he must ask his master's leave to dis- pose of that. The general was so struck with his manner and appearance that he asked if he should like to enter his service. In short, he took him into * Memoires, &c, par Le B. Iwan Nestesuranoi. M. Voltaire lays it was the Tzar who called him. PETER THE GREAT. 45 his house, and observing that* he was a fine, hand- some, and engaging- young man, thought the Tzar would not be displeased to have him in his service, in which he was not mistaken. He saw him, heard his history, and took him as his page. He soon be- came a great favourite, and accompanied the Tzar in all his travels ; he employed him on all his secret commissions and confidential business. Never was an instance of so sudden a rise, from the lowest state of poverty, to riches, honours, power, and mag- nificence, as that of MenzikofF. The subsequent his- tory of this remarkable person is intimately inter- woven with that of the Tzar Peter. It was said, indeed, that the Tzar owed his life to Menzikoff, when a cake-boy, and that this was the cause of his sudden elevation. Peter, indeed, said on one occa- jsion, when pleading for his favourite under a crimi- nal prosecution, that he owed his life to him. The circumstance is not likely to have happened, but the narrator was employed in both the court and the army, and it was probably the gossip of the day. Peter, according to this story, is said to have dined one day with a boyar of the discontented faction, jWho had determined to get rid of him by poison ; that Menzikoff, being in the kitchen, observed some white powder put into a particular dish ; that the Tzar was apprized of it, pressed the boyar to eat of it, who declined, saying it did not become the servant to eat with his master ; that the plate was !set down to a dog, which, having devoured it, died iin convulsions ; that the boyar was taken into cus- tody, but was found dead in his bed, — and thus the matter dropped.* It would appear that Peter was far from being at |ease in his domestic circle. The marriages of sove- reigns, seldom made by the choice of either party, but from political expediency, can hardly be expected * Memoirs of Capt. Bruce. 46 MEMOIR OF to turn out happy. Peter had a wife forced upon him at the age of seventeen ; before he attained that of twenty, he found cause to put her away, and confine her strictly to a convent. This proceeding has been accounted for in various ways. Some pre- tend she was disloyal to his bed — others that she had reproached Menzikoff for taking her husband to visit low women, who had formerly been his cus- tomers for cakes, and that it was he who advised the Tzar to divorce her. The real cause, however, is generally supposed to have been the encourage- ment she gave to the powerful party that was hos- tile to every innovation which he either had intro- duced, or was intending to introduce, into the affairs f>{ the nation ; for the fact was well known that the greatest opposition he met with, in his grand design of regenerating his country, and out of savages forming men, came from his wife and her connex- ions. She was taught by her confessor to regard all innovations as so many sacrileges, and every foreigner as a corrupter of her husband. Such con- duct encouraged the factious boyars and the priests to use all endeavours to thwart his designs for the improvement and prosperity of the country. His son, Alexis, being an infant, was placed under the guardianship of his repudiated mother, which turned out to be the principal cause of all his mis- fortunes. The way in which General Alexander Gordon got his first commission in the Russian service, just at this time, was entirely owing to this illiberal hatred of foreigners, and is highly creditable to the discern- ment and firmness of the Tzar. Being introduced to Peter, on his arrival in Moscow, by his namesake Patrick Gordon, and also to many of the first fami- lies, he received an invitation to a wedding. Several young Russians were present ; and when the bottle had freely circulated, they began to speak very disre- spectfully of foreigners in general, and of the Scots PETER THE GREAT. 47 in particular ; and this kind of conversation went on so long, and was so pointed, that Gordon became irritated, and laid the one next him sprawling on the floor by a blow with his fist. Five others imme- diately set upon him ; but the use he made of his large brawny arms drove them off, and he remained master of the field. An event of this kind was sure to be carried to the Tzar, especially as the 5 r ouths were of the first families. Gordon was ordered the next day to appear before him, and expected nothing less than the knout or to be sent to Siberia ; but the modest manner in which he stated the case to the Tzar, and the sorrow he expressed for having unin- tentionally given him displeasure, gained at once the good opinion of Peter, who, always acting on the impulse of the moment, said, " Well, sir, your accusers have done you justice by admitting that you beat six of them, — I will also do you justice." On saying this he withdrew, and in a few minutes returned with a major's commission, which he pre- sented to Gordon with his own hand. Peter knew that he had received a captain's commission from Louis XIV., after serving in the wars in Catalonia. Gordon's biographer adds, " This anecdote of our author's history he once told, and we believe never but once."* The appointment of Le Fort to the rank of admi- ral was no empty title ; he was despatched to hasten the ships building at Voronitz, and prepare them with all expedition to drop down the Don prepara- tory to an attack on Azoph, which the Tzar was determined to get possession of, as the key to the sovereignty of the Black Sea. General Patrick |Gordon received directions to march at the head of [five thousand men along the line of the Don; Le Fort was to follow with the twelve thousand men • * Life of Major-general Gordon, prefixed to his History of Peter the Great. 48 MEMOIR OF which he had raised; a corps of Strelitzes was placed under the command of Generals Scherematof and Shein ; and to all these was joined a body of Cossacks. The Tzar was determined to proceed to the attack in person, but in the capacity only of a volunteer. Azoph was a strong place and well gar- risoned, and could only be successfully bombarded from the water ; but it unfortunately happened that, with every exertion, some Venetian galleys and two large Dutch frigates, were not able to get down the river in time. The Russians, impatient, would not wait their arrival ; they laid siege to the place and miscarried, chiefly, as was reported, through the treachery of an inferior officer in the Tzar's army. The name of this man was Jacob, a native of Dantzic, and an artillery officer under General Shein. The general for some fault or other had bambobed Jacob, who, not bearing this disgraceful punishment so composedly as a Russian would have done, deter- mined on revenge. During the night he spiked the cannon of the invaders, deserted to the enemy, and the same man, who had directed the approaches to the fortress, was now the best defender of it. The Russians made an attempt to storm, but, after losing a great number of men, were repulsed, and obliged to raise the siege. Thus ended the first campaign of the Tzar Peter. Though completely beaten, the Tzar showed him- self a man not to be disheartened by one stroke of adverse fortune. He resolved, on the spot, to make a second attempt ; and accordingly, in the early part of the spring of 1796, he put his forces in motion, and with increased means proceeded to the attack of the town. His fleet was now completely equipped and properly commanded. The siege was conducted with systematic regularity, and the Tzar was constantly in the trenches or on board some of the ships of the squadron; but he soon began to PETER THE GREAT. 4& grow impatient at the protracted siege ; called a council of war, and requested the opinions of the several officers. All of these advised to delay, — until it came to the turn of the old General Patrick Gordon, who recommended a most extraordinary- plan, such as one might expect to find practised in the days of Homer. He said ; that, in his opinion, the safest and most expeditious way to become masters of the place would be to carry on before them a whole rampart of earth along the front of the town, which, as they advanced, would hourly increase. " By having ten or twelve thousand men night and day, we shall," said he, " roll as much earth before us, as will not only be sufficient to fill up the fosse, but will, over and above, more than exceed the height o-f the town walls ; by which means, in a few weeks, we shall oblige the enemy to surrender, or we shall bury them alive." The Tzar preferred this opinion, and ordered them to do as he had proposed. So to work they went, and with such cheerfulness, that, within the space of five weeks, the fosse was actually full, and the earth above the height of the ramparts, rolling in over them, which obliged 'the governor to put out the white flag. The younger Gordon, who was present, adds, that twelve thousand men were constantly at work, who threw the earth from hand to hand, like so many steps of a stair.* After this extraordinary operation of taking a for- tified town, Peter granted to the governor a capitu- lation, and had the satisfaction to witness the sur- render of the garrison on the 28th of July ; and that which gave him more pleasure than any thing be- sides was to find that the traitor Jacob was still there, and that the governor made no difficulty in delivering him up to the besiegers among the rest of the prisoners. * Gordon's History of Peter the Great. E 50 MEMOIR OF The Russians had no sooner got possession of the town than Peter issued his orders for improving and strengthening the fortifications, enlarging the harbour, and for increasing his fleet, both in number and size ; some of the ships ordered to be built being intended to carry from thirty to sixty pieces of cannon. On his return to Moscow, a contribu- tion was directed to be levied on the boyars, or land proprietors, in aid of the expense of building and fitting out this fleet ; and conceiving that the estates of the clergy ought to bear their proportion in the service of the common cause, orders were sent forth that the patriarch, the bishops, and the superior clergy should contribute to the fitting out of an in- tended expedition, in which the honour and the glory of their country were concerned, and which was for the general good of Christendom.* This powerful armament was intended to give to Russia the command of the Palus Moeotis, as the best and most practicable means of driving the Tartars out of the Crimea ; and also of opening a free commu- nication with Circassia and Georgia by the Couban, and through these countries to establish a commer- cial intercourse with Persia. Such were the grand designs which the Tzar revolved in his mind on the fall of Asoph, and which, in later times, have been fully accomplished. In order to impress the people of the capital, the boyars, and the clergy with the great importance of the victory gained by the army and navy of his own creating, and to give encouragement to his troops to engage heartily in daring enterprises of a similar kind, he caused the officers of both services to enter the ancient capital under triumphal arches, amid the firing of cannon and the ringing of bells ; and feasts and entertainments, fireworks, illumina- tions, and every demonstration of joy continued for * Voltaire's History of the Russian Empire. PETER THE GREAT. 51 several days. Admiral Le Fort, the generals, and all the officers of the army and navy, marched in procession, and took precedence of the Tzar Peter, who disdained all rank, being desirous of convincing his subjects that the only , road to military preferment was by meritorious conduct. On this occasion the triumphal entry was followed by the captives taken at Azoph ; and Jacob the traitor was placed in a cart, with an executioner on each side, and a gallows above his head, on which he was afterward sus- pended, having first been broken on the wheel. He had a label on his breast, purporting that "this wretch had five times changed his religion, and was a traitor to God and man; that at first he was a Roman Catholic, then a Protestant, afterward a Greek, and, lastly, a Mohammedan." The laurels which had thus crowned his newly- formed army, the honours that were conferred on foreigners serving as officers in that army, and the contributions about to be levied for the support of his land and sea forces, together with the many changes which the Tzar was making in their ancient usages, gave great offence to the adverse party, and particularly to the officers of the Strelitzes, who foresaw that his measures tended to a speedy dis- solution of that corps. Instigated by this reflection, a certain number of these misguided men entered into a conspiracy to put the Tzar to death. The plan was to set fire to a building in the Kremlin, at midnight; and as it was quite certain that Peter would be instantly on the spot, one of them was to stab him privately, when in the midst of the crowd. They met together at one of their houses on the night fixed on to carry this diabolical plot into exe- cution ; but two of the conspirators, either from fear of detection and failure, or from feelings of com- punction, went to the Tzar and laid open the whole plot. He was at that time at the house of Admiral Le Fort. With a few followers he proceeded to the 52 MEMOIR OF house where the conspirators were assembled, and took them all into custody. This happened on the 2d of February, 1697, and on the 5th of March they were executed in the grand square before the Krem- lin, and their heads fixed on spikes of iron, as, not very many years ago, those of traitors were fixed on Temple Bar ; with this difference, that the spikes for the heads of the Strelitzes were driven into a lofty column, erected for the purpose on the spot ; their arms and legs bound round the column, and their trunks thrown on the ground for the dogs to devour. The principal conspirators are said to have been three boyars, a colonel of the Don Cossacks, and four captains of the Strelitzes.* CHAPTER III. The Tzar Peter travels into Holland — His Residence at Zaandam. The conquest of Asoph being accomplished chiefly by the odd plan of attack proposed by General Patrick Gordon and the assistance rendered by the ships built by foreigners, and manned chiefly with them, the Tzar was now more than ever convinced of the pre-eminence of the natives of Western Eu- rope over his own barbarous subjects. This con- sideration created in him a strong desire to give to the latter every facility and encouragement for en- larging their minds, and improving themselves in every species of useful knowledge, and more particu- larly in the art of war, and the construction of large ships on sound principles of naval architecture. In- fluenced by these motives, he despatched, in 1697, * Nestesuranoi. Lacombe. John Mottley. PETER THE GREAT. 53 sixty young Russians, selected by Le Fort out of his regiment, to Venice and Leghorn, in order that they might make themselves acquainted with every thing pertaining to the art of ship-building and navi- gation, and particularly with the construction of row-galleys ; and forty more were sent to Holland for the same purpose. A large number were des- patched to Germany, to inform themselves in the military discipline and tactics of that nation. Not satisfied with this, he resolved to go himself into* Holland, Germany, and Italy, to procure knowledge by his own observation and experience. He was particularly anxious to make himself perfect in every branch of nautical science, and the several arts connected with it. " It was a thing," says Vol- taire, " unparalleled in history, either ancient or modern, for a sovereign of five-and-twenty years of age to withdraw from his kingdom, for the sole pur- pose of learning the art of government." The time seemed favourable for* such an under- taking. His success before Azoph, the gratification that his army had received by their triumphal entry into Moscow, the amount and improved dis- cipline of that army, the death of his brother John, and the confinement of his sister Sophia, all con- spired to assure him of a continuance of the internal tranquillity of his extensive dominions ; and though the clergy were clamorous against his sending Rus- sians out of the country, and going himself into foreign, and therefore barbarous, parts, which they said was an abomination before the Lord, and had been so ever since the days of Moses, and therefore contrary to their holy religion ; yet as Peter, since his successful campaign, and the death of his brother, found himself treated with the most profound re- spect by the generality of his subjects, he did not much regard the anathemas of the church, or the few discontented boyars, but adhered steadfastly to his resolution ; and in the same year 1697, set out E 2 54 MEMOIR OF on his travels. He took the precaution, however, of ordering General Gordon, in whom he placed the highest confidence, to remain at the capital with four thousand of his guards until his return, which, as matters turned out, proved to be the salvation of the government as well as that of the Tzar and the whole of his family.* As yet Peter was not represented, in his charac- ter of sovereign, at any of the courts of Europe, of the propriety, and indeed the necessity, of which he would, no doubt, have been apprized by his friend and mentor, General Le Fort. Having therefore de- termined, as already stated, to visit in person the several countries mentioned, he appointed an em- bassy extraordinary on a grand scale to proceed, in the first instance, to the States-General of Holland, and resolved to accompany it himself, incognito, in the character of a private gentleman, attached to the embassy. The three persons selected as am- bassadors were General Le Fort, Alexis Golownin, governor of Siberia, and Voristzin, secretary of state for foreign affairs. The retinue consisted of four principal secretaries, twelve noblemen and gentle- men, six pages, and a company of fifty of the Preo- brazinski guards with their officers, the whole con- sisting of two hundred persons. The retinue of the Tzar was a valet, a livery servant, and a dwarf, the latter being invariably a part of the royal establish- ment of Muscovy. It appears also, from documents kept in the dock-yard of Zaandam, that his favourite Menzikoff was one of the twelve attendants. The ambassadors commenced their journey in April, 1697, proceeding through Esthonia and Livo- nia. They visited Riga, and the Tzar, being desirous of seeing the fortifications of that town, was per- emptorily refused by the governor, Count D'Alberg. This want of courtesy was not forgotten by Peter * Gordon's Hist, of Peter the Great. PETER THE GREAT. 55 in his future war with the Swedes.* At Konigsberg the embassy was received with royal munificence by the King of Prussia. While in Germany there was nothing but feasting and carousing. Mr. Coxe, on anonymous authority, cites the following pas- sage : " Le Fort is a man of good understanding ; very personable, engaging, and entertaining ; a true Swiss for probity and bravery, but chiefly for drink- ing. Open tables are kept everywhere, with trum- pets and music, attended with feasting and excessive drinking, as if his Tzarish majesty had been another Bacchus. I have not yet seen such hard drinkers ; it is not possible to express it, and they boast of it as a mighty qualification." The description may be just, but the writer may also be suspected of having mistaken Menzikoff for Le Fort. At one of these bacchanalian debauches, the Tzar took such violent offence at something said by Le Fort, that he in- stantly drew his sword, and desired him to defend himself. " Far be it from me," said Le Fort, " rather let me perish by the hand of my master." Peter had raised his sword, but one of the retinue, of the name of Von Prinsen, had presence of mind to catch hold of his arm, and saved, probably, the life of Le Fort. He expressed, says Voltaire, the same con- cern for this short transport of passion as Alexander showed for the murder of Clytus : for he imme- diately asked that gentleman's pardon; and with composure observed, that his great desire was to reform his subjects ; but he was ashamed to say he had not yet been able to reform himself, f Having reached Emmeric on the Rhine, the Tzar, impatient to arrive at his destination, left the em- bassy, and, having hired a small boat, proceeded to Amsterdam, through which, says Nestesuranoi, he flew like lightning, and never once stopped till he * Voltaire. Nestesuranoi. Journal de Pierre le Grand, t Voltaire— referring to MS. Memoirs of Le Fort. 56 MEMOIR OF arrived at Zaandam, fifteen days before the embassy reached Amsterdam. The first person seen by the Russian party in the boat was a man fishing in a small skiff, of the name of Kist, who had worked as a smith in Russia, and was immediately recognised by one of the six persons who were with the Tzar. This person called over to him to come to them, which he did. The man's astonishment may be conceived on seeing the Tzar of Russia sailing in a little boat, dressed like a Dutch skipper in a red jacket and white linen trousers, Peter told Kist he wanted lodgings, and should like to take them with him. Kist was but in poor circumstances, and would have excused himself, but Peter persisted ; and as a poor widow woman had a small house be- hind his, she consented to move to a little adjoining hut, in order to accommodate the royal stranger. Peter's lodgings consisted of two small rooms, with a loft over them, and an adjoining shed.* Kist re- ceived strict injunctions on no account whatever to let it be known who his lodger was, as he did not wish to be discovered. To the questions which the crowd, collected to see the strangers, put to them, the Tzar replied (for he could speak the Dutch flu- ently), that they were all carpenters and labourers from a foreign country, who had come to Zaandam in search of work. But no one believed this ; in- deed, the rich clothes of his companions, who had kept on their proper Russian dresses, sufficiently contradicted any such idea. The first business, after landing, which Peter set about, and which showed a favourable trait in his character, was to inquire after and visit the families and the widows of several Dutch seamen and ship- carpenters with whom he had associated at Arch- angel and Plescow, representing himself to each as a brother ship-builder of their relatives. Among * Scheltema. PETER THE GREAT. 57 others, he paid a visit to the widow of the deceased skipper Musch, to whom he had sent from Archangel a gratuity of five hundred guilders. This poor woman said " she was afraid she never could be suffi- ciently thankful to the Tzar for his great kindness, but entreated him, if he ever might be permitted to come into the presence of his Tzarish majesty, to tell him how very welcome the gift was in her wid- owed state, and that she was most humbly and cor- dially thankful for his kind consideration." He as- sured the poor woman she might rely on the Tzar being made acquainted with all she had said.* Having made all his inquiries after the families of his Dutch friends in Russia, Peter next proceeded to visit the shops of Zaandam, to purchase carpen- ter's tools for himself and companions, whom he had directed to clothe themselves in the common dress of the dock-yards. Among these, as it after- ward turned out, were his youthful companions and favourites MenzikofF and Galitzin, who were di- rected to handle the tools and work at ship-building as well as himself. The day following their arrival being Sunday, all the workmen of this then busy and populous town, and whole crowds from Amsterdam, hearing of the passage of the strangers to Zaandam, and guessing from the report of those who had seen them that they were the forerunners of the expected embassy, assembled before the small lodgings of Peter and those of his companions, very much to the annoy- ance of the former, who had an unconquerable an- tipathy against a crowd, and more especially of strangers assembled to look at him. Besides, the secret of his real character was, as might be ex- pected, very soon divulged. A Dutch resident at Archangel had written home to his friends, announ- cing the preparations making for the embassy, and * Scheltema. §8 MEMOIR OF the intention of the Tzar to accompany it in dis- guise, enclosing, at the same time, a description of his person, and a portrait print. Among the crowd which curiosity had attracted was a barber from Amsterdam, to whom the letter and print had been shown ; and, as it would seem that, from the time when the unsuccessful experiment was made by the barber of Midas, none of these gossiping gentle- men have made a second attempt to bury a secret, the shaver of Amsterdam, on seeing Peter, called out " Dat is den Tzar !"— " That is the Tzar !"* Indeed no one could mistake him who had ever heard his person described. "The Tzar*' says a Zaandammer, " is very tall and robust, quick and nimble of foot, dexterous and rapid in all his actions; his face is plump and round ; fierce in his look, with brown eyebrows, and short curling hair of a brown- ish colour. His gait quick, swinging his arms, and holding in one of them a cane." The character of this extraordinary personage was developed much more in Holland than at home. He was here free from all restraint, and subject only to partial annoy- ance ; the natural bent of his mind had, therefore, free scope. Little of his time was passed with the ambassadors; it was almost wholly employed among the ship-builders of Amsterdam, and of Zaandam ; and in sailing on the Y, the Pampus, and the Zuy- der-Zee ; so much interested were the Dutch in all that he said and did, that regular entries were made in the dag-register, or diary kept at Zaandam ; and all those inhabitants with whom he was in daily in- tercourse made memoranda of what occurred, as far as their knowledge extended. Many of these little notices have been collected by Noomen, Calf, Van Halem, Meerman, and several others, who are referred to by Scheltema, in his Rusland en de Neder- landen beschouwd. * Scheltema PETER THE GREAT. 59 The cane which Peter carried in his hand was sometimes freely used, when any one attempted to thwart his movements. His first exploit in the dock-yard of Mynheer Calf, a wealthy merchant and ship-builder, with whom he was prevailed on to lodge, after quitting his first cabin, was to purchase a small yacht, and to fit her with a new bowsprit, made entirely with his own hands, to the astonish- ment of all the shipwrights ; they could not conceive how a person of his high rank could submit to work till the sweat ran down his face, or where he could have learned to handle the tools so dexterously. When this little vessel was ready for sea, he ap- dointed Gerrit Musch, the brother of his friend who died at Archangel, as his captain ; and both he and his wife, and the widow of the brother, had access to him at all times during his stay, and received from him many tokens of his regard in little presents of different kinds, all of which show that, notwithstand- ing his rude and violent temper, he was, in the main, a kind-hearted man. He was frequently on the water, sometimes seve- ral hours in the day. His extraordinary rapidity of movement in landing or embarking used to astonish and amuse the Dutch, who had never before wit- nessed such " loopen, springen, en klauteren over de schepen," — "running, jumping, and clambering over the shipping." The curiosity of the Dutch to see this extraordinary character brought whole swarms from the capital, on Sundays and holydays, so that all the windows and the house-tops in the street where he lodged were crowded with people ; but he confined himself closely to the house at such times, and would not suffer himself to be seen. The bailiff (schout), two burgomasters, and three members of the council waited on him one day to request he would honour them by being present at the winding up, or dragging a ship over the dam : his answer, in a hurried manner, on seeing a great crowd, was, 60 MEMOIR OF " Straks-straks" — " By-and-by ;" but observing the multitude to have increased, he was visibly annoyed, and declined going, and with evident anxiety said, " Te veel volks, te veel volks" — " Too many people, too many people ;" at the same time, throwing him- self into a great passion, he shut the door. The following day the crowds that beset his door were greater than ever, which again threw him into such a violent rage that he became convulsed. Peter had been subject to such fits from his early youth ; they are said to have been first occasioned by the fright he received, when some of the Strelitzes forced themselves into the Trinity convent, and one of them held a naked sabre over his head, when by his mother's side before the altar. He was then ten years of age ; but it is much more probable they were an original and constitutional disease, to which other members of his family were subject; and though they diminished in frequency and violence with years, they continued to afflict him occasion- ally till his death. The convulsive spasms generally came upon him when agitated or much excited, and he remained in them, sometimes, for whole hours. These paroxysms, it seems, always gave warning of their approach by a contortion of the neck to- wards the left side, and by a twitching or contrac- tion of the muscles of the face ; and, as these fits had never been observed during his childhood, it is not to be wondered at that some cause should be as- signed for their production. Bassevitz, the Holstein envoy, ascribes them to the effects of the poison supposed to have been given him by his ambitious sister Sophia, which is wholly unsupported by any other authority, and is in itself an absurdity. That they were constitutional may be inferred from the fact that all the male children of Alexis were more or less subject to fits, though none so violent as those with which Peter was affected ; they differed from epileptic, and were more like those to which Bona- PETER THE GREAT. 61 parte was subject, when thrown into a sudden gust of passion, and which, in his case, were called cata- leptic. On the present occasion, the Dutch gentlemen who had waited on him were exceedingly alarmed, but his companions, who had been accustomed to see him in paroxysms of this kind, sought out and placed before him a handsome young woman, whose presence speedily led to his recovery.* Count Paul Jagouchinsky is said to have made the discovery by accident, when he was page to the Tzar. He al- ways brought to him either the Tzarina Catharine or, in her absence, the first young woman he met with, and left her alone with him ; whether, he ob- serves, the unexpected appearance of a young and beautiful woman, or the pleasing sound of her voice, exerted the powerful influence on his frame, it is difficult to say ; but it is a fact that it had the tran- quillizing effect of subduing his passion and abating the convulsions.! It is well known that the sight of a caracan, or black beetle, had the effect of throw- ing him into convulsions ; and why then should not a beautiful object produce the contrary effect of re- lieving him from them 1 Subject, however, as he was to these bursts of passion, Peter had so far command over himself as to act and speak with all humility and perfect obe- dience, when he conceived it necessary to set an example for others to follow. Thus, in entering himself as a ship- carpenter in the dock-yard, he strictly adhered to the regulations under which his fellow-labourers worked, and was known, at his own request, by the name of Pieter Timmerman van Zaandam; sometimes as Pieter Baas, or Master Peter ; and generally, when in Amsterdam, as Peter Michaelhoff. It is stated in the diary of M. Calf, * Scheltema. t Staehlin ; authority Count Paul Jagouchinsky. F 62 MEMOIR OF that he was an early riser, made his own fire, and frequently cooked his own meals. Mr. Titsingh,. a most respectable gentleman, who died in 1812, at the age of eighty, was told by a sea-officer, worthy of all belief, who was living in the year 1754, that he had seen Peter at his work, clad as a common workman, and that, when any one wished to speak to him, he would go with his adze in his hand and sit down on a rough log of timber for a short time, but seemed always anxious to resume and finish the work on which he had been employed. One day either the great Duke of Marlborough or the Earl of Portland (the narrator is doubtful which, as both are known to have been at Zaandam), came to the yard, and asked the master to point out to him, unnoticed, the Tzar among the workmen, as he wished much to see him at work. A number of the men were just then carrying a large beam of wood, close by the spot where Peter happened to be sitting at the time. Having shown the stranger the object of his curiosity, the master called out, " Peter Tim- merman, why don't you assist these men ?" Peter immediately rose up and obeyed, placed his shoulder under the log, and helped to carry it to its proper place. When at work in the East India Company's dock-yard at Amsterdam, he received a letter from the patriarch of Russia, in answer to which he took the opportunity of observing to him, among other things, that " in Amsterdam he was obedient to the commands of God, which were spoken to father Adam, in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread.' " It was observed that Peter would lend a helping hand at every thing connected with ship-building, such as rope-making, sail-making, smiths' work, &c. On his return from his Archangel expedition, he gave proof of what he could do in forging iron. On visiting Muller's manufactory at Istia, he forged several bars of iron, and put his own mark on each PETER THE GREAT. 63 of them ; he made the companions of his journey blow the bellows, stir the fire, carry coals, and do all the labouring work of journeymen blacksmiths. The Tzar demanded payment from Muller for his work, at the same rate as he paid the other work- men. Having received eighteen altins, " This will serve," said he, "to buy me apair of shoes, of which I stand in great need," at the same time showing those he wore, which had already been soled. He then went to a neighbouring shop, bought a pair of shoes, and took great pleasure in snowing them, saying to his companions, " I have earned them well, by the sweat of my brow, with hammer and anvil." A bar of iron forged and marked with his own hand is still in the cabinet of the Academy of Sciences at Peters- burgh, but this was forged at a later date at Olonetz.* Not satisfied with working himself in the dock- yard, he insisted that Menzikoff and Golownin, and a third person, whose name the Dutch builders were not able to discover, should make themselves ac- quainted with boat-building and mast-making; but the third, who was of a sickly habit, got leave very soon to return to Russia. Menzikoff made some progress, but complained bitterly of his sore hands. It would seem, however, that they all, except Peter, affected to consider their labour as amusement only. Latterly they hired a large house, and lived all together merrily and frolicksome, with a professed cook, a skilful physician, and a priest. On the public entry of the ambassadors into Am- sterdam, Peter deemed it right he should take a part in the procession, which was got up with all the magnificence that their high-mightinesses in those days were able and accustomed to display. The three ambassadors went first, followed by a long train of carriages, with richly-dressed livery servants * Nestesuranoi. Staehlin ; on the authority of Peter Muller, son of the above-mentioned blacksmith. 04 MEMOIR OF on foot ; but Peter, in the simple habit of a gentle- man, was in one of the last carriages ; such, indeed, according to our custom, was his proper place, as here on all such occasions the tail is pushed forward while the head remains behind. But in Holland it is different ; and in this situation he was not recog- nised, and therefore escaped the stare of the vulgar, which he seemed on all occasions anxious to avoid. The ceremony being ended, Peter was too happy to return to his favourite residence at Zaandam. He was, however, interrupted in his labours a second time, by a private visit he thought it right to pay to William ill. King of England, and Stadtholder of the United Provinces, who was then at Utrecht, and afterward at his private residence at Loo. The speech he made to King William on this occasion could not have been written by himself, but by one of his scribes, being full of bombast and fulsome adulation. He thus begins : " Most renowned Em- peror ! It was not the desire of seeing the cele- brated cities of the German empire, or the most powerful republic of the universe, that made me leave my throne and my victorious armies, to come into a distant country ; it was solely the ardent desire of paying my respects to the most brave and generous hero of the day," &c. Having made a sufficient progress in ship-carpen- try to satisfy himself, he now determined on seeing every thing that was new to him in Holland, and among other things to visit the Greenland fishing- ships. With this view he proceeded to the Texel, where upwards of a hundred of these ships had arrived from the fishery. He went on board several of them, inquired into the manner of catching the whales, how the blubber was cut off, the oil boiled, the whalebone cut out, and, in short, every thing appertaining to the whale-fishery. Nothing was considered by him too troublesome, — nothing about the fishing-ships too filthy, — while acquiring some PETER THE GREAT. 65 knowledge of that lucrative species of commercial enterprise. It was the same in all other matters : he visited all the manufactories, — all the windmills for grinding corn, pressing, out oil, cutting plank, pumping water, making paper, — and examined the principles on which they were constructed. On seeing any new object he instantly inquired, " Wat is dat I", and being told, he used to exclaim, " Dat wil ik zien" — " I shall see that." Ten times a day, while accompanying his friend Calf and others over different parts of the neighbourhood, were the words repeated — " Wat is dat," and " Dat wil ik zien." His curiosity was unbounded, and the gratification of it not always free from personal danger. He was one day nearly entangled in the machinery of a windmill. On another occasion he mounted to the top of one of the large cranes on the admiralty wharf in Amster- dam, when his foot slipped, and down he fell on the pavement and injured his leg ; and he was in the habit of carrying so much sail in his little boat as to occasion constant alarm lest she should be overset.* Peter's curiosity was by no means of that idle kind which leads to no profit ; with him it was the inquis- itive daughter of ignorance and the prolific mother of knowledge. Nothing came amiss to him. He frequented the markets, and was particularly amused with the mountebanks and venders of quack medi- cines. It might be said he was somewhat of a quack himself; he learned to draw teeth, and became skil- ful by a little practice in that operation. He attended dissections in the hospital, and learned to bleed ; and these useful operations he followed with great zeal after his return to Russia, and practised them with advantage frequently among his workmen and in the army, particularly blood-letting. Stcehlin says he had acquired sufficient skill to dissect according to the rules of art, to bleed, draw teeth, and perform other * Sckeltema. F2 66 MEMOIR OF operations as well as one of the faculty, — that is to say, the Russian faculty, among whom surgery may be supposed, at that time, to have been at a very low ebb. He tapped the wife of a Dutch merchant who had the dropsy, but the operation having been too long deferred, the poor woman died, as the regular practitioners said she would : and by way of con- soling the husband for his loss, the Tzar attended the funeral. Peter, it would seem, was always ready to perform his good offices in the surgical way, and for that purpose always carried about with him a small case of surgical, as well as a case of mathematical, instru- ments. Perceiving one day a valet of his, named Balboiarof, sitting with a sad and pensive counte- nance, he inquired what was the matter with him. " Nothing, sire," answered Balboiarof, " except that my wife has got the toothache, and refuses to have it out." — " Does she !" said the Tzar ; " let me see her, and I warrant I'll cure her." He made her sit down that he might examine her mouth, though the poor woman protested and insisted that nothing was the matter with her. " Ay," said the disconsolate husband, " so she always says that she suffers no- thing, while the doctor is present." — "Well, well," said the Tzar, " she shall not suffer long ; do you hold her head and arms." Peter caught hold of a tooth with the instrument, which he supposed to be the bad one, and drew it out with great expertness. A few days after this, Peter learned, from some of the household, that the poor woman's tooth ailed no- thing, and that the whole was a trick of the husband to be revenged of his wife's supposed gallantries. Peter was not to be trifled with ; his own sagacity was impugned by drawing out a sound tooth — the poor woman was pained unnecessarily, and a trick was put upon him ; he called his valet and gave him a severe chastisement with his own hands.* * St«hlin ; authority Mr. Velton (Felton), chief cook to the Tzar. PETER THE GREAT. 67 Peter finished his labours at ship-carpentry by assisting to put together a yacht, which, at the sug- gestion of the Burgomaster Witsen, was to be pre- sented to him as a gift, in the name of the States- General. Mr. Witsen was a wealthy ship-owner, a great patron of science, having sent several persons at his own expense to make discoveries in Northern and Eastern Tartary ; an account of which was published by him. Peter was constant in his at- tendance at the putting together of this ship, from the laying down the keel to her completion for launching. He gave her the name of Amsterdam, where she was built, and when ready, appointed the son of his deceased friend Musch to command her. The Jews had been driven out of Russia since the time of the Tzar Ivan Vasilovitz. They now applied to this kind-hearted and liberal burgomaster to repre- sent to the Tzar Peter their hard lot, and to pray they might be admitted to reside there on the same footing with other foreigners ; and their petition was accompanied with the offer of one hundred thousand florins as the first mark of their gratitude, should it prove successful. The Tzar heard patiently what he had to say in their favour, and then replied, " My good friend Witsen, you know the Jews, and my countrymen's opinion of them ; I also know both. In the light in which they are held by the latter, this is no time for them to think of settling in my domin- ions. You may therefore tell them from me, that I thank them for their offer, and that I should most truly feel compassion for them, were they to come and fix their abode in Russia ; for, though they have the reputation of knowing how to cheat the whole world, I apprehend my countrymen would prove more than a match for them."* By M. Witsen, Peter was introduced to all the * Stsehlin ; authority M. Hofy, a Dutch surgeon, who followed Peter into Russia. Scheltema. 68 MEMOIR OF learned men of Holland, and those who had in any way distinguished themselves in the arts and sci- ences. He attended regularly Professor Ruych's lectures in the dissecting-room, and his extensive museum of anatomical preparations. At lectures he used to sit on the lower bench close to the table, and one day, as the professor was explaining the connexion and the functions of the different parts of the human body, Peter, having heard and seen " how fearfully and wonderfully we are made," be- came so excited and anxious, that he jumped from his seat, and appeared as if he was about to snatch the scalpel from the -hands of the dissector. He visited all the museums of natural history and cabi- nets of coins and medals in Amsterdam ; the houses of artists, engravers, and architects. He paid a visit to Leuwenhoeck, and was much delighted with his microscopes. He invited Bynkershok, the learned writer on international law, to enter his service and go with him to Russia. At the Hague, the Baron Van Coehorn, the celebrated engineer, was intro- duced to him. Among other things he wished to see, was an execution of a condemned criminal ; and he requested the Dutch government would let him know when such an event might take place. He accordingly attended the trial of two criminals, and was particularly observant of all that took place in the court, at the passing of the sentence, and after- ^ward at the execution. But it would appear he thought the process too long, at least he profited not much by the careful and attentive examination, with which the documentary evidence was considered by the judges, before the sentence of death was passed on the criminals. For it so happened shortly after, that an affair occurred in his own household, which induced him to send two of the offending party to prison in irons, with a full determination of or- dering them to be put to death. The burgomasters, however, gave him to understand that such a thing, PETER THE GREAT. 69 in that country, and in their city, neither must, nor could, nor should take place ; they endeavoured with great earnestness to divert him from the point, and prevail on him to release the prisoners ; but all they could obtain from him was, that they might be released, on condition that the one should be sent on a voyage to Batavia, and the other to Surinam, as very slender punishments for the offence. Whatever irregularities Peter might sometimes be guilty of himself, he never overlooked them in any of his followers. One of the priests of the em- bassy had been in the habit of indulging too freely in the use of gin. Peter one day saw him very much intoxicated, and immediately sentenced him, as a punishment, to turn the wheel in the rope-yard. He prayed forgiveness, showing his hands how wofully disfigured they were by this unaccustomed work ; but all in vain. The only answer he got was, " Quick, quick to your work."* To one little creature that he brought in his suite he was particularly kind ; and this was his dwarf, who accompanied him on all occasions of festivity, and stood at the table close to his elbow. One day, when M. Witsen and some others were going in a carriage, and some one observed that the dwarf had better go in another, as the Tzar might be incom- moded, he said, " By no means," and took the Lilli- putian on his knee. It is remarkable that even to this day, these little creatures, whom nature has abridged of their fair proportions, are to be found in most of the palaces of the great, in Russia, gayly dressed in a uniform, or livery, of the most costly materials. Besides these, many have a different kind of animal, meant to correspond with our " motleys" in the days of Elizabeth, but by constantly gormandizing and sleeping, become so beastly fat and indolent, that they really are what nature has designed and habit * Scheltema. 70 MEMOIR OF made them to be — " fools." Whether for the grati- fication of their master's vanity, that in comparing himself with these beings, he may be able to ex- claim with the Pharisee, " I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as this man ;" pr, to induce humility, by being put in mind how low human nature may be reduced ; or, through mere curiosity, in having pos- session of a rare animal, the breed is, at any rate, ' still kept up. It would appear, however, that royal and noble personages, in more countries than Russia, are not indisposed to have some butt, be he dwarf, or jester, or fool, against whom they may hurl their cutting sarcasms and coarse jokes, and, without in- tending it, sometimes inflict wounds that cannot be retaliated. It may not be out of place here to give an exam- ple of the grotesque and barbarous kind of exhibi- tions from which the royal family and the court nobles could derive amusement. Natalia, the sister of the Tzar, once took the whimsical fancy to marry two of her dwarfs. She had several little coaches made for the occasion, and little ponies (Shetland, Capt. Bruce calls them) were provided to draw them ; and all the dwarfs that could be got together, to the number of ninety-three, were summoned to celebrate the nuptials. A grand procession was marched through all the streets of Moscow. First went a large open wagon, drawn by six horses, with kettle-drums, trumpets, horns, and hautboys ; next followed the marshal and his attendants, two and two, on horseback ; then the bridegroom and bride, in a coach and six, attended by their bride-man and maid, and they were followed by fifteen small coaches, each drawn by six ponies, and each con- taining four dwarfs. " It was somewhat surpris- ing," says Bruce, " to see such a number of little creatures in one company together ; especially as they were furnished with an equipage conformable to their statures." Two troops of dragoons, and PETER THE GREAT. 71 many persons of fashion, in their carriages, joined in the procession. A grand entertainment, after the ceremony was over, was given by the princess, and the dwarfs dined together at two long tables, the princess with her nieces, Anne and Elizabeth, the Tzar's daughters, seeing them all seated and well attended before they sat down at their own table. "At night the princess, attended by the nobility, conducted the married couple to bed in grand state, and the other dwarfs concluded the entertainment with a ball, which lasted till daylight."* While the Tzar was in Holland he received the agreeable intelligence of his army having obtained a victory over the Turks and Tartars, in the neigh- bourhood of the Crimea, in which vast slaughter was occasioned among the troops of the enemy, in crossing a river in their flight, when great numbers were drowned and others taken prisoners. An at- tempt was made by the Tartar galleys to seize upon Azoph, but the Russian vessels made an attack upon them, and drove them back, taking several of them, and sinking and destroying others. The Russian forces were commanded by Prince Dolgorouki and General Shein. On the news of this important victory, Peter and his ambassadors received the congratulations of the plenipotentiaries of the Emperor of Germany, of Sweden, Denmark, andBrandenburgh ; but the French ambassador, offended at the Tzar having so warmty espoused the interests of Augustus, who had been elected King of Poland against the pretensions of the Prince de Conti, withheld this piece of civility, which the occasion and common courtesy would seem to have required. The only revenge taken by the Tzar was a determination not to visit France in the course of his travels. In celebration of this event, Peter gave a grand entertainment, to which * Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce. 72 MEMOIR OF all the officers of government, and the principal merchants of Amsterdam, with their wives and daughters, were invited. The sumptuous dinner was accompanied and followed by a band of music, and in the evening were plays, dancing, masquerades, illuminations, and fireworks. His respectable friend Witsen told him he had entertained his countrymen like an emperor. " It was," says Scheltema, " a most agreeable surprise to behold at Amsterdam the followers of the embassy, a hundred hours (500 miles) from their birth-place, joining in their own country dances." The cheerfulness and good-humour of the "Tzar were particularly noticed by the Hol- landers. Peter, having at last fully satisfied his curiosity in Holland, where he had spent nine months nearly, went for the last time to take an affectionate leave of his friends and fellow-labourers of Zaandam, with whom he had been so closely and intimately con- nected for a great part of the time, and from whom he parted with a regret in which they fully re- ciprocated. He proceeded to the Hague along with M. Le Fort, and they had an interview with King William, when it was arranged that two or three ships of war, and one of the royal yachts should be sent over to Helvoetsluys, in the early part of the month of January, to convey the Tzar and his suite to England. CHAPTER IV. The Tzar Peter visits England. Two ships of war and a yacht, under the orders of Admiral Mitchell, were despatched to Helvoet- sluys to bring over the Tzar, who, with his suite, consisting of MenzikofF and some others, whose PETER THE GREAT. 73 names are not mentioned, embarked at that port on the 18th of January, 1698, and on the 21st reached London. Here no secret was attempted to be made of his rank, but he requested to be treated only as a private gentleman ; and it is remarkable enough that, though he paid frequent visits to the king, and attended his court, his name never once appears in the only official paper which then, as indeed now, was in existence, the London Gazette, Lord Shrewsbury, at this time, was secretary of state for foreign affairs ; but as the Tzar came not in any public character, he appears to have been placed under the especial charge of the Marquis Caermar- then, who was made lord-president of the council in the following year. Between this nobleman and Peter a very considerable intimacy took place, which was uninterrupted during the Tzar's abode in England. A large house was hired for him and his suite at the bottom of York Buildings, where, it is stated in a private letter, the marquis and he used to spend their evenings together frequently in drinking 44 hot pepper and brandy." The great failing of Peter, indeed, was his love of strong liquors. We find in one of the papers of the day, that he took a particular fancy to the nectar ambrosia " the new cor- dial so called, which the author, or compounder, of it presented him with, and that his majesty sent for more of it." Of the proceedings of the Tzar, during the four months he remained in England very little is re- corded in the few journals or other publications of that day ; the former consisting chiefly of the Post- master, the Postman, and the Postboy. The Postman opens the subject of the Tzar's arrival to his coun- trymen with the following just and judicious re- marks : — " The Tzar of Muscovy, desiring to raise the glory of his nation, and avenge the Christians of all the injuries they have received from the G 74 MEP20IR OF Turks j has abrogated the wild manners of his pre* decessors, and having concluded from the behaviour of his engineers and officers, who were sent him by the Elector of Brandenburg, that the western na- tions of Europe understood the art of v;ar better than others, he resolved to take a journey thither, and not wholly to rely upon the relations that his ambassadors might give him ; and, at the same time, to send a great number of his nobility into those parts through which he did not intend to travel, that he might have a complete idea of the affairs of Eu- rope, and enrich his subjects with the arts of all other Christian nations : and as navigation is the most useful invention that ever was yet found out, he seems to have chosen it as his own part in the general inquiry he is about. His design is certainly very noble, and discovers the greatness of his genius ; but the model he has proposed to himself to imitate is a convincing proof of his extraor- dinary judgment ; for what other prince in the world was a fit pattern for the great Emperor of Muscovy than William the Third, King of Great Britain V* In the Postboy it is stated, that, on the day after his arrival, the Tzar of Muscovy was at Kensington, to see his majesty at dinner, as also the court; but he was all the while incognito. And on the Saturday following he was at the playhouse, to see the opera ; i that on the Friday night the revels ended at the Temple, the same being concluded by a fine mas- querade, at which the Tzar of Muscovy was present ; that on the following Sunday he went in a hackney- coach to Kensington, and returned at night to his lodgings in Norfolk-street, where he was attended by several of the king's servants. His movements, during the rest of the month, were a journey to Woolwich and Deptford, to see * Postman, No. 417. PETER THE GREAT. 75 the docks and yards ; then to the theatre, to see the Rival Queens, or Alexander the Great ; to St. James's, to be present at a fine ball ; and, it is further stated, that he was about to remove from Norfolk- street (York Buildings) to RedrirT, where a ship was building- for him ; that he was about to go to Chat- ham, to see a man-of-war launched, which he was to name ; and that on the 15th of February, accom- panied by the Marquis of Caermarthen, he went to Deptford, and having spent some time on board the " Royal Transport," they were afterward splendidly treated by Admiral Mitchell. These are the princi- pal notices concerning the Tzar Peter contained in the Postboy. It is evident that London could not be very agree- able to him, on two accounts ; first, because his great object in coming here was to see the dock- yard establishments, and to profit also by observing the English mode of making draughts of ships, and laying them off in the mould-loft ; and to acquire some knowledge in the theory of naval architecture and navigation, which he had heard, when in Hol- land, was superior to what he had seen or could obtain in that country, though it was assumed that the mechanical part of finishing and putting together a ship was there fully equal, if not superior, to the English. In the next place, he was equally annoyed by the crowds he was continually meeting in the streets of London, as he had been in Amsterdam, and this he could not bear with becoming patience. It is said, that as he was one day walking along the Strand with his friend the Marquis of Caermarthen, a por- ter, with a hod on his shoulder rudely rushed against him and drove him into the kennel. He was . ex- tremely indignant, and ready to knock him down ; but the marquis, interfering, asked the man what he meant, and if he knew whom he had so rudely run against, adding, " that it was the Tzar." The 76 MEMOIR OF porter, turning round, replied, with a grin, " Tzar ! we are all Tzars here." But that which annoyed him most of all was the intrusion of the citizens into his lodgings, and into the room even where he was eating, to which they gained access through the king's servants. Disgusted at their impertinent curiosity, he would sometimes rise from table, and leave the room in a rage. To prevent this intrusion, he strictly charged his domestics not to admit any persons whatever, let their rank be what it might. A kind of forced interview, however, was obtained by two Quakers, the account of which, as given by one of them, is singular and interesting : — " Anno 1697. At this time Peter the Great, Tzar of Muscovy, being in London, incog., and Gilbert Mollyson {Robert Barclay's wife's brother) having heard that a kinsman of his was in the Tzar's ser- vice, and being desirous to increase the knowledge of the truth, requested me to go with him, in quest of his kinsman, to the Tzar's residence, a large house at the bottom of York Buildings, in order to present him with some of Robert Barclay's Apolo- gies, in Latin; hoping that, by that means, they might fall under the Tzar's notice, and be subser- vient to the end proposed. And accordingly we went one morning ; and when we came to the place, Gilbert inquired of the porter after his cousin, but could not hear any thing of him in the lower apart- ments, but was desired to stay till further inquiry was made in the house ; and a servant went up-stairs to that end, and when returned invited us up. The head of the staircase, on the first floor, brought us to the entrance of a long passage, which went through the middle of the house, and there stood a single man at a large window, at the further end, next the river Thames, to whom we were directed for intelligence ; and as we passed along, we ob- served two tall men walking in a large room on the right-hand, but we did not stop to look at them, only PETER THE GREAT. 77 transiently as we moved; for, supposing one of them to be the Tzar, of whom I had heard that he was not willing to be looked upon, and careful not to offend him, we behaved with caution, and went directly to the person standing at the window, of whom Gilbert Molly son inquired after his kinsman ; and he told us that such a person had been in the Tzar's service, but was dead. " In the mean time came the Tzar and the other to us ; the other, I suppose, was Prince Menzikoff, his general. Our backs were towards them, and our hats on ; and when they approached, the person with whom we had conversed looked down upon the floor with profound respect and silence ; but we stood in our first posture, with our faces towards the window, as if we had not taken any notice of them. The person we had conversed with was an Englishman, a Muscovy merchant, known to the Tzar in his own country, who understood his lan- guage, and was his interpreter. Then the Tzar spoke something to him which we did not under- stand ; upon which he asked us, ' Why do you not pay respect to great persons, when you are in their presence V I answered, ' So we do, when we are fully sensible of it, especially to kings and princes. For though we have laid aside and decline all vain and empty shows of respect and duty, and flattering titles, whereby they are generally deceived by in- sincere and designing men, who seem to admire them for their own ends, yet we yield all due and sincere respect and duty to such, and all in authority under them, by giving ready obedience to all their lawful commands ; but when at any time any of them, either through tyranny or ignorance, or ill counsel, happens to command any thing contrary to our duty to the Almighty, or his Son Christ our Lord, then we offer our prayers and tears to God, and humble addresses unto such rulers, that their G2 78 MEMOIR OF understandings may be opened and their minds changed towards us.' " The Tzar gave no reply to this, but talked with his interpreter again, who then asked, ' Of what use can you be in any kingdom or government, seeing you will not bear arms and fight ?'* To this I re- plied, ' That many of us had borne arms in times past, and been in many battles, and fought with courage and magnanimity, and thought it lawful and a duty then, in days of ignorance ; and I myself have worn a sword and other arms, and know how to use them : but when it pleased God to reveal in our hearts the life and power of Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord, who is the Prince of righteousness and peace, whose commandment is love, we were then reconciled unto God, one unto another, unto our enemies, and unto all mankind.' " Thomas Storey goes on at great length, and actu- ally preaches a sermon on this text, the Tzar pa- tiently listening to what he could not understand. " Upon this," he continues, " the Tzar took seve- ral turns in the gallery, or passage, and then came and looked steadfastly upon us, though we did not seem to mind him, or know that it was he. Then I said to the interpreter, ' That we understood that there was a person of great dignity and distinction in that place, a stranger, very inspectious into the state of affairs and things in general ; and, no doubt, might be also inquisitive into the state of religion ; and we (being a people differing in some points from all others, and so much misunderstood and misrepre- * It is whimsical enough to see how different minds jump to different conclusions. When art was told that those amiable creatures of Loo-Choo had no arms and no money — " What !" exclaims Bonaparte, " no arms ! how do they conquer other countries, or defend their own ?" — " No money !" says a kind- hearted chancellor of the exchequer, " how do they carry on the government?" And "Of what use," says Peter to the Quakers, " can you be in any kingdom, since you will not beal arms and fight V* PETER THE GREAT. 79 sented in our own country, that even our neighbours themselves did not know us), lest that great prince should be misinformed, and imposed upon concern- ing us and our religion, had brought him some books, dedicated to the sovereign of our native country, by which he might please to see a full account of our principles.' We then produced two of the ' Apolo- gies' in Latin. " Then the Tzar talked again with his interpreter, who asked us, ' Were not these books writ by a Jesuit 1 It is said there are Jesuits among you.'* — To which Gilbert Molly son replied, ' That is a cal- umny, and proves the necessity of our endeavours, in that respect, at this time. We have no Jesuits among us. Our religion and theirs differ very widely. This book was writ by a near relation of mine, who was not a Jesuit, but sincerely of those principles asserted and maintained in the book, as our whole community is.' " And then the Tzar and interpreter talked toge- ther ; after which the latter took some gold out of his pocket, and offered us for the books. But I told them, ' We were no such men as to want any thing for the books, or otherwise. They were a present to that great prince, and given freely : and all that we desired was that they might be acceptable ; and that in case any of our friends should, at any time hereafter, come into his country, and preach those principles contained in the books, and if they should meet with opposition, and be persecuted, by any officers or persons in power under him, for the same, he would please to afford them protection and relief.' — Then they talked together again, and the inter- preter kept the books ; and the Tzar and Prince * It was not without reason that Peter put this question. Just at this time a correspondence was passing between Bishop Til- lotson and William Penn, the former having charged the latter with keeping up a communication with the Jesuits at Rome. 80 MEMOIR OF Menzikoff retired into the room from whence they came. " They being- gone, we asked the interpreter * If that was the Tzar!' He said he was. Then we asked him if he had told the Tzar the substance of what we had said 1 And he said he had. Then we desired that if he asked him any more questions about us and our religion, not to mention to him any of those rude calumnies thrown upon us by ignorant and malicious persons, but the truth, to the best of his observation and information; and he promised he would. Then he told us that the Tzar did not understand the Latin tongue ; but only his own language, and Dutch. Then Gilbert Molly son gave one of the ' Apologies' to the interpreter (for he had several with him), and so we departed in peace and satisfaction. " This was about the beginning of the week, and the next first day the Tzar, the prince, and a great company of his other attendants came in the morn- ing to our meeting in Grace-Church Street, all in English habits, like English gentlemen, and the same interpreter with him. I happened to be there in the gallery, and the first I knew was Menzikoff. Robert Haddock had begun to preach a little before they came in, upon the subject of ' Naaman, the captain general of the host of the Assyrians, going to the prophet for cure of his leprosy,' &c. [Here follows the substance of Robert Haddock's ser- mon.] "And the Tzar and the interpreter were often whispering together in the time, though Robert Haddock knew nothing of his being in the meeting ; and thus he staid very sociably, till observing the people crowd up before him to gaze (which he could not endure), he retired on a sudden, along with his company, before the meeting was quite over ; for some people in the streets had seen him as he came, PETER THE GREAT. 81 and, by some means, had discovered who he was, and crowded after him to see him more perfectly. " After this he went incognito to Deptford, to im- prove himself in the art of ship-building, and there wrought at it with his own hands: and Gilbert Mollyson and I acquainting some Friends, how we happened to see him, and had given him some books, and that he understood the Dutch, William Tenn % George Whitehead, and some other friends went to Deptford, and waited on him privately, and presented him with more of the same books in that language, which he received very graciously. A conversation ensued between them in the same language, which William Penn spoke fluently. The Tzar appeared to be much interested by it, so that the visit was satisfactory to both parties. Indeed, he was so much impressed by it that afterward, while he was at Deptford, he occasionally attended the meeting of the Quakers there, where he conducted himself with great decorum and condescension, changing seats, and sitting down, and standing up, as he could best accommodate others. Nor was this impression of short duration, for in the year 1712, that is, sixteen years afterward, when he was at Frederickstadt, in Holstein, with five thousand men to assist the Danes against the Swedes, one of his first inquiries was, whether there were any Quakers in the place ; and being told there were, he signified his intention of attending one of their meetings. A meeting was accordingly appointed, to which he went, accompa- nied by Prince Menzikoff and General Dolgorucky, and several dukes and great men. Soon after they were seated the worship began; Philip Defair, a Quaker, rose up and preached. The Muscovite lords showed their respect by their silence, but they un- derstood nothing of what was said. To remedy this, the Tzar himself occasionally interpreted as the words were spoken, and when the discourse was over, he commended it by saying, that whoever 82 MEMOIR OF could live according to such doctrines would be happy."* Storey further states that the " Friends" of Fred- erickstadt related many things of a good tendency concerning the Tzar, one of which was this, " That he used quite another way with his officers, and others, than had been reported of him, when in his own country : for he was so familiar, that he would have them call him sometimes by his name, and seemed better pleased with that way than his former distance : only in times of their worship, which they sometimes held in the market-place, he "would then, as is usual at home, resume great dignity on him ; and one time, being rainy weather when they were at it, he wearing his own hair, pulled off the great wig from one of his dukes, and put it on himself, to cover him from the rain, making the owner stand bare-headed the while : for it seems he is so abso- lute, that there must be no grumbling at what he does, life and estate being wholly at his discretion." The practice here mentioned would seem to have been not unusual with the Tzar. One Sunday, being at Dantzic, on his second journey to Holland, he attended divine service, and was conducted by the burgomaster to his seat. Peter made the burgo- master sit down by him ; he listened to the preacher with the greatest attention, keeping his eyes con- stantly turned towards the pulpit, while those of the whole congregation were fixed upon himself. Feeling his head grow cold, Peter, apparently unconscious of what he was doing, took the large wig which flowed over the shoulders of the burgomaster off his head, and put it on his own, to the astonishment of the good people of Dantzic. When the sermon was ended, Peter restored the wig, and thanked the bur- gomaster by an inclination of the head. One of his nobles told the burgomaster that the Tzar was un- * Life of Thomas Storey, and Clarkson's Life of Wm. Perm. PETJbR THE GREAT. 83 mindful of such matters, and that it was a common custom with him when at church, as often as he felt his head cold, to take MenzikofTs wig, or that of any other who happened to be within his reach.* One month's residence having satisfied Peter as to what was to be seen in London, and having expressed a strong desire to be near some of the king's dock- yards, it was arranged that a suitable residence should be found near one of the river establish- ments ; and the house of the celebrated Mr. Evelyn, close to Deptford dock-yard being about to become vacant, by the removal of Admiral Benbow, who was then its tenant, it was immediately taken for the residence of the Tzar and his suite ; and a doorway was broken through the boundary wall of the dock- yard, to afford a direct communication between it and the dwelling-house. This place had then the name of Saye's Court. It was the delight of Evelyn, and the wonder and admiration of all men of taste at that time. The grounds are described, in the life of the Lord-keeper Guildford, as "most boscaresque, being, as it were, an exemplary of his (Evelyn's) book of forest trees." AdmirarBenbow had given great dissatisfaction to the proprietor as a tenant, for he observes in his " Diary" — u I have the mortifica- tion of seeing, every day, much of my labour and expense there impairing from want of a more polite tenant." It appears, however, that the princely occupier was not a more "polite tenant" than the rough sailor had been, for Mr. Evelyn's servant thus writes to him, — " There is a house full of people right nasty. The Tzar lies next your library, and dines in the parlour next your study. He dines at ten o'clock and six at night ; is very seldom at home a whole day ; very often in the king's yard, or by water, dressed in several dresses. The king is expected there this day ; the best parlour is pretty * Staehlin ; authority of Mr. Wahl, syndic of Dantaie. 84 MEMOIR OF clean for him to be entertained in. The king pays for all he has."* But this was not all : Mr. Evelyn had a favourite holly hedge, through which, it is said, the Tzar, by way of exercise, used to be in the habit, every morning, of trundling a wheel-barrow. Mr. Evelyn probably alludes to this in the following passage, wherein he asks, " Is there, under the heavens, a more glorious and refreshing object, of the kind, than an impregnable hedge of about four hundred feet in length, nine feet high, and five in diameter, which I can still show in my ruined garden at Saye's Court (thanks to the Tzar of Mus- covy), at any time of the year, glittering with its armed and variegated leaves ; the taller standards, at orderly distances, blushing with their natural coral 1 It mocks the rudest assaults of the weather, beasts, or hedge-breakers, — et ilium nemo impune lacessit."f Alas! for the glory of the glittering hollies, trimmed hedges, and long avenues of Saye's Court ; Time, that great innovator, has demolished them all, and Evelyn's favourite haunts and enchanting grounds have been transformed into cabbage-gar- dens ; that portion of the victualling-yard where oxen and hogs are slaughtered and salted for the use of the navy, now occupies the place of the shady walks and the trimmed hedges, which the good old Evelyn so much delighted in ; and on the site of the ancient mansion now stands the common parish workhouse of Deptford Stroud. We have little evidence that the Tzar, during his residence here, ever worked as a shipwright ; it would seem that he was employed rather in acquir- ing information on matters connected with naval architecture, from that intelligent commissioner of the navy and surveyor, Sir Anthony Deane, who, after the Marquis of Caermarthen, was his most in- * Memoirs of J. Evelyn. f Evelyn's Sylva. PETER THE GREAT. 85 timate English acquaintance. His fondness for sail- ing and managing boats, however, was as eager here as ill Holland; and these gentlemen were almost daily with him on the Thames, sometimes in a sail- ing yacht, and at others rowing in boats, — an exer- cise in which both the Tzar and the marquis are said to have excelled. The Navy Board received directions from the Admiralty to hire two vessels, to be at the command of the Tzar, whenever he should think proper to sail on the Thames, to improve him- self in seamanship. In addition to these, the king made him a present of the " Royal Transport," with orders to have such alterations and accommodations made in her as his Tzarish majesty might desire, and also to change her masts, rigging, sails, &c. in any such way as he might think proper for improving her sail- ing qualities. But his great delight was to get into a small decked boat, belonging to the dock-yard, and taking only Menzikoff and three or four others of his suite, to work the vessel with them, he being the helmsman ; by this practice he said he should be able to teach them how to command ships when they got home. Having finished their day's work, they used to resort to a public-house in Great Tower-street, close to Tower-hill, to smoke their pipes and drink beer and brandy. The landlord had the Tzar of Musco- vy's head painted and put up for his sign, which continued till the year 1808, when a person of the name of Waxel took a fancy to the old sign, and offered the then occupier of the house to paint him a new one for it. A copy was accordingly made from the original, which maintains its station to the present day, as the sign of + he "Tzar of Muscovy,' 5 looking like a true Tartar. His attention was forcibly attracted to the mag- nificent building of Greenwich Hospital, which, until he had visited it, and seen the old pensioners, he had some difficulty in believing to be any thing but a royal palace. King William, having one day asked H 86 MEMOIR OF him how he liked his hospital for decayed seamen, the Tzar answered, " If I were the adviser of your majesty, I should counsel you to remove your court to Greenwich, and convert St. James's into an hos- pital."* It being term time while the Tzar was in London, he was taken into Westminster Hall ; he inquired who all those busy people in black gowns and Sow- ings wigs were, and what they were about 1 Being answered, " They are lawyers, sir ;" — " Lawyers !" said he, with marks of astonishment, — " why, I have but two in my whole dominions, and I believe I shall hang one of them the moment I get home."t In the first week of March, Vice-admiral Mitchell was ordered to repair forthwith to Spithead, and, taking several ships (eleven in number) under his command, hoist the blue flag at the fore-topmast head of one of them. It is not stated for what purpose these vessels were put under his command, nor was any public order given. But the " Postman,"! under date of 26th March, says, " On Tuesday the Tzar of Muscovy went on board Admiral Mitchell, in his majesty's ship the Humber, who presently hoisted sail and put. to sea from Spithead, as did also his majesty's ships the Restauration, Chichester, Defi-' ance, Swiftsure, York, Monmouth, Dover, Kingston, Coventry, Seaforth, and Swan." And the Flying- post, or Postmaster,^ has the following intelligence : " The representation of a sea engagement was ex- cellently performed before the Tzar of Muscovy, and continued a considerable time, each ship having twelve pounds of powder allowed ; but all their bul- lets were locked up in the hold, for fear the sailors should mistake." It is stated in the logs of the * Staehlin. Authority, Mr. Rondeau, English resident as Moscow. t Gentleman's Mag. vol. vii. t Postman, No. 441. § Postmaster, No. 449. PETER THE GREAT. 87 Humber and the Kingston that they had two sham- fights ; that the ships were divided into two squad- rons, and every ship took her opposite and fired three broadsides aloft and one alow, without shot. The Tzar was extremely pleased with the perform- ance. It is said, indeed, he was so much delighted with every thing he saw in the British navy, that he told Admiral Mitchell he considered the condition of an English admiral happier than that of a Tzar of Russia.* On returning from Portsmouth, Peter and his party stopped at Godalming for the night ; where, it would appear from the bill of fare, they feasted lustily. Among the papers of Ballard's Collection, in the Bodleian Library, is one from Mr. Humphrey Wanleyf to Dr. Charlett,{ which contains the fol- lowing passage : — " I cannot vouch for the follow- ing bill of fare, which the Tzar and his company, thirteen at table, and twenty -one in all, ate up at Godalming (or Godliming), in Surrey, in their way home, — but it is averred for truth by an eyewitness, who saw them eating, and had this bill from the land- lord. At breakfast — half a sheep, a quarter of lamb, ten pullets, twelve chickens, three quarts of brandy, six quarts of mulled wine, seven dozen of eggs, with salad in proportion. At dinner — five ribs of beef, weight three stone ; one sheep, fifty-six pounds ; three quarters of lamb, a shoulder and loin of veal boiled, eight pullets, eight rabbits, two dozen and a half of sack, one dozen of claret. "§ * Nestesuranoi. Mottley. t Author of " Wonders of the little World." j Master of University College. There are among our countrymen those who are scarcely outdone by the Tzar of Russia and his companions. At the. same place, and probably at the same house, long known as Moods, two noble dukes, the one dead, the other yet living, stopped, as they intended, for a moment, while sitting in their carriages, to eat a mutton chop, which they found so good that they each of them devoured eighteen, and drank five bottles of claret. 88 MEMOIR OF It would appear, indeed, from all accounts, that the Tzar was a prodigiously hard drinker in his younger days. In a letter from Mr. A. Bertie to Dr. Charlett, and in the same collection, he says, " The Tzar lay the other night at Mr. James Herbert's, being come from Deptford to see the Redoubt,* which the justices have suppressed, by placing six constables at the door. Upon that disappointment, he fell to drinking hard at one Mr. Morley's ; and the Marquis of Caermarthen, it being late, resolved to lodge him at his brother-in-law's, where he dined the next day — drank a pint of brandy and a bottle of sherry for his morning draught ; and, after that, about eight more bottles of sack, and so went to the playhouse. "f The Marquis of Caermarthen acted as his guide to all public places of amusement; for which, how- ever, it does not appear Peter had any great relish, probably from not being sufficiently acquainted with our language to comprehend what was going on ; twice or thrice only he went to the theatre, — but the only object there that particularly struck his fancy was an actress of the name of Cross, who was afterward, — so the gossip of the day had it, — intro- duced to him ; and this is the only amour, if it was one, that is recorded of the Tzar while in England. With the Tower of London he appeared to be highly pleased, more particularly with the beautiful arrange- ment of the armory. The king having given a grand ball at St. James's, in honour of the princess's birth-day, Peter was in- vited ; but instead of mixing with the company, he was put into a small room, from whence he could see all that passed without being himself seen. This extraordinary aversion for a crowd kept him away from all great assemblies. Once, indeed, he at- * It is presumed some notorious place of ill-fame. f Ballard's Collection. Bodleian, PETER THE GREAT. 89 tempted to subdue it, from a desire to hear the debates in the House of Commons, but even then the Marquis of Caermarthen could not prevail on him to go into the body of the house. He therefore placed him in some situation where he could hear and see what was going on without being himself noticed ; perhaps he was on the brink of that hole in the ceiling which is now, on great occasions, fre- quented by certain ladies who dabble in politics, and by others from mere curiosity to listen to debates, from which, by custom and common consent, females have been excluded ; paying the penalty of their defiance, by inhaling a neither pleasant nor whole- some atmosphere. Having dined with the king at Kensington, he was prevailed on to see the ceremony of his majesty passing four bills; but it appears from a note of Lord Dartmouth, that here, as in the Commons, he avoided going into the house. His lordship says, " He had a great dislike to being looked at, but had a mind to see the king in parliament ; in order to which he was placed in a gutter upon the house-top, to peep in at the window, where he made so ridicu- lous a figure, that neither king nor people could for- bear laughing, which obliged him to retire sooner than he intended." From the same authority we learn that Peter was, at another time, placed in an awkward situation. " The king made the Tzar a visit, in which an odd incident happened. The Tzar had a favourite mon- key, which sat upon the back of his chair ; as soon as the king was sat down, the monkey jumped upon him, in some wrath, which discomposed the whole ceremonial, and most of the time was afterward spent in apologies for the monkey's misbehaviour."* The Tzar is said to have paid a visit to the Uni- * Lord Dartmouth.— Note in Burners History of his own Times. H2 90 MEMOIR OF versity of Oxford ; but not a trace appears on any of the records of that University of his having ever done so. His body physician, Posnikof, who staid in England some months behind his master, is, how- ever, known to have been there. Mr. Wanley writes thus, from London, to Dr. Charlett ; — " I will wait on the doctor (Posnikof), and if you had been pleased to have given me orders, I would have been at Ox- ford before now, for his sake, and returned hither with him again. His master (the Tzar) gave the king's servants, at his departure, one hundred and twenty guineas, which was more than they deserved, they being very rude to him ; but to the king he pre- sented a rough ruby, which the greatest jewellers of Amsterdam (as well Jews as Christians) valued at ten thousand pounds sterling. Tis bored through, and when it is cut and polished, it must be set upon the top of the imperial crown of England."* He was introduced to the Archbishop of Canter- bury, at his palace of Lambeth, and having expressed a desire to see the different churches of the capital, and to observe the mode in which the service was conducted, the archbishop recommended Bishop Burnet to gratify his curiosity in this respect ; and to give him all the information (of which none was more capable) that he might require on ecclesias- tical matters. From this dignitary of the church we have some information respecting the manner and appearance of this extraordinary character. He says, he waited on him frequently, having been or- dered, both by the king and the archbishop, to attend upon him, and to offer him such information as to our religion and constitution as he might be willing to receive. " 1 had good interpreters," continues the bishop, " so I had much free discourse with him. * Ballard's Collection. Bodleian. With plain downright simplicity, and free from all ostentation, Peter carried this valuable ruby to the king in his waistcoat pocket, and presented it wrapped up in a piece of brown paper. PETER THE GREAT. 91 He is a man of very hot temper, soon influenced, and very brutal in his passion ; he raises his natural heat by drinking much brandy, which he rectifies himself, with great application ; he is subject to con- vulsive motions all over his body, and his head seems to be affected with these. He wants not capacity, and has a larger measure of knowledge than might be expected from his education, which was very in- different ; a want of judgment, with an instability of temper, appears in him too often and too evidently. He is mechanically turned, and seems designed by nature rather to be a ship-carpenter than a great prince. This was his chief study and exercise while he staid here. He wrought much with his own hands, and made all about him work, at the models of ships. He told me he designed a great fleet at Asoph, and with it to attack the Turkish empire ; but he did not seem capable of conducting so great a design, though his conduct in his wars, since this, has discovered a greater genius in him than appeared at that time. He was desirous to understand our doctrine, but he did not seem disposed to mend matters in Muscovy. He was, indeed, resolved to encourage learning, and to polish his people, by sending some of them to travel in other countries, and to draw strangers to come and live among them. He seemed apprehensive still of his sister's intrigues. There is a mixture both of passion and severity in his temper. He is resolute, but understands little of war, and seemed not at all inquisitive in that way.* After I had seen him often, and had conversed much with him, I could not but adore the depth of the pro- vidence of God, that had raised up such a furious man to so absolute an authority over so great a part of the world. "f * [There is something whimsical in the idea of this church- man criticising Peter's military capacity ; especially when the monarch's subsequent career is considered.] t Burnet's History of his own Times. 92 MEMOIR OF He goes on to say, " David, considering the great things God had made for the use of man, broke out into the meditation ' What is man, that thou art so mindful of him]' But here there is occasion for reversing these words, since man seems a very con- temptible thing in the sight of God, while such a person as the Tzar has such multitudes put, as it were, under his feet, exposed to his restless jealousy and savage temper. He went from hence to the court of Vienna, where he proposed to have staid some time, but he was called home sooner than he intended, upon a discovery, or a suspicion, of in- trigues, managed by his sister; the strangers to whom he trusted most had been so true to him that those dangers were crushed before he came back ; but on this occasion he let loose his fury on all whom he suspected ; some hundreds of them were hanged all round Moscow, and it was said that he cut off many heads with his own hands ; and so far was he from relenting, or showing any sort of tenderness, that he seemed delighted with it. How long he is to be the scourge of that nation or his neighbours, God only knows !"* It is always hazardous to prophesy, and the bishop was particularly unfortunate in his estimation of some parts of the Tzar's character. Had he been able to converse with him without the medium of an interpreter, he might perhaps have come to a different conclusion in some respects ; though, at the same time, it must be owned, Peter had not then evinced much capacity, or even ambition, to take his place among the great statesmen and legislators of the world. Burnet thought that in matters of religious doctrine " he did not seem disposed to mend them in Muscovy." An incident however occurred, which proved that he had already intended, on his return to his own country, wholly to reform and amend the * Burnet's History of his own Times. PETER THE GREAT. 93 state of the clergy and the church of Russia. It was this : — Some of the principal merchants of London, through the intervention of the Marquis of Caermar- then, had prevailed on Menzikoff and Golownin to propose a treaty with the Tzar to allow a free import- ation of tobacco into Russia, which was prohibited, or admitted only on payment of such high duties as amounted to a prohibition. The Tzar assented, but on condition only of their paying down to him twelve or, as some say, fifteen thousand pounds, for this ex- clusive privilege ; stipulating at the same time that none should be imported into his dominions without the special license of the Marquis of Caermarthen, who, it is said, was to receive five shillings for every hogshead so licensed. Now the use of tobacco was abhorred by the priesthood, as an unclean thing and an abomination before the Lord ; and this was stated by the chairman of the merchants, Sir Gilbert Heath- cote, as a prejudice that might render the contract, as far as regarded them, of no effect ; on which the Tzar observed, "He knew very well how to deal with the priests when he got home ;" or, as Sir Gil- bert himself told it, " When I return to my own country, you will find I shall make my priests preach and do what I please ;"* — and it will be seen that he did so. The bishop says he wrought much with his own hands, and made all about him work, at the models of ships. Whom he had with him, besides Menzi- koff and Golownin, does not anywhere appear, but the Postmanf of the 29th March says, " The Tzar of Muscovy is returned from Portsmouth to Dept- ford, where his second ambassador is arrived from Holland." The two principal Russian workmen in Holland, of rank, were Menzikoff and the Prince Siberski, the latter of whom is said to have been able * Mottley. f No. 442. 94 MEMOIR OF to rig a ship from top to bottom. The object in re- maining at Deptford would appear to have been, as before stated, chiefly to gain instruction how to lay- off the lines of ships and cut out the moulds ; though it is said, on the testimony of an old man, a work- man at Deptford yard some forty years ago, that he had heard his father* say, the Tzar of Muscovy worked with his own hands as hard as any man in the yard. If so, it could only have been for a very short time, and probably for no other purpose than to show the builders that he knew how to handle the adze as well as themselves. When residing at Deptford he requested to see the celebrated Dr. Halley, to whom he communicated his plans of building a fleet, and in general of intro- ducing the arts and sciences into his country, and asked his opinion and advice on various subjects ; the doctor spoke German fluently, and the Tzar was so much pleased with the philosopher's conversation and remarks, that he had him frequently to dine with him ; and in his company he visited the royal obser- vatory in Greenwich Park. As in Amsterdam, so also in London, he visited the manufactories and workshops of various artifi- cers, and purchased whatever he deemed either curious or useful ; and among other things " he bought the famous geographical clock made by Mr. John Carte, watchmaker, at the sign of the dial and crown, near Essex-street, in the Strand, which clock tells what o'clock it is in any part of the world, whether it is day or night, the sun's rising and set- ting throughout the year, its entrance into the signs of the zodiac ; the arch which they and the sun in them makes above or below the horizon, with several other curious motions."! He was very curious in * Mr. James Sibbon, who was a journeyman shipwright in Deptford yard when the Tzar was there ; he died in 1769, aged 105 years. — Annual Register for 1769. f Postman, No. 136. PETER THE GREAT. 00 examining the mechanism of a watch, and it is said he could take one of these ingenious machines to pieces, and put it together again, before he left London. The king had promised Peter that there should be no impediment in his way of engaging, and taking with him to Russia, such English artificers and scien- tific men as he might desire, with such instruments as their trade or profession required. For this pur- pose he entered into an engagement with Mr. Fer- guson, a native of Scotland and an excellent mathe- matician ; and, at his recommendation, two young students from the school of Christ-church Hospital accompanied him. To these persons the Muscovite exchequer was indebted for the change from balls strung on a wire, the suanpan of the Chinese, to the simple Arabic numerals : so tardy was the intro- duction into Russia of one of the most useful and important inventions that ever benefited mankind. The Tzar engaged also Perry, the engineer, for the purpose of superintending the construction of harbours, sluices, and bridges, which he had in contemplation ; and more particularly to carry into execution the grand scheme of opening a communi- cation, by means of canals, between the Baltic, the Caspian, and the Black Sea. He engaged also vari- ous workmen who had been accustomed to labour in the several branches of civil, military, and naval architecture. The fair promises, however, and even actual agreements, to which many of these persons had trusted, were broken not long after their arrival in Russia. The Tzar, or his officers, refused to let those who were dissatisfied return to their own country — they could neither obtain their arrears of pay nor passports. Perry complains that every obstruction was thrown in his way ; that he could neither procure materials nor workmen, and that, at the end of six years, they deducted the monthly subsistence, which was agreed to be given him, from 96 MEMOIR OF his salary, and paid him the remainder in depreciated coin. Ferguson's case was still harder ; one part of his agreement was, that for every scholar whom he taught navigation, and who was sent into the navy, he should receive one hundred rubles ; and when Captain Perry left Russia he had so sent out seventy scholars, but had not been able to get one penny of the money. One of the young men from Christ's Hospital was murdered in the street, and the other never could get one-half of the allowance that was promised. In short, the natives did all in their power to annoy and disgust foreigners. Peter, however, was less to blame for this neglect and in- justice than his official servants. In the army, which was under his immediate eye, foreigners met with every encouragement, at least from the Tzar, and many of them were domiciled in Russia. A Scotchman named Best, a lieutenant in the army, was among those who went with Peter from this country. The word best, it seems, signifies, in the Russian language, beast, which so annoyed the northern lad that he complained of it to the Tzar, who told him he would soon put him at ease on that score — " You shall be called Bestuchef, and then you will be as good a Russian as myself." The son of this lieutenant was the celebrated Alexey Bestuchef, grand chancellor to the Empress Elizabeth.* The number of all descriptions of persons that finally left England, when the Tzar returned to Holland, is stated to have been nearly as follows : — Three captains of ships of war, twenty-five cap- tains of merchant-ships, thirty pilots, thirty surgeons, two hundred gunners, four mast-makers, four boat- builders, two master sail-makers and twenty work- men, two compass-makers, two carvers, two anchor- smiths, two lock-smiths, two copper-smiths, and two tinmen ; making, with some others, not much less than * Tooke's Life of Catharine II, PETER THE GREAT. 97 five hundred persons. However uncouth the man- ners of Peter may have been, he was a great favour- ite with King William, and the Tzar had also a high opinion of his majesty, whom he visited frequently, and consulted on all important occasions. The king engaged him to sit for his portrait to Sir Godfrey Kneller, who painted a very good picture, said to be a strong likeness, which is now at Windsor, and the portrait at the head of this volume is engraved from it. To convey the Tzar and persons above mentioned to Holland, the Admiralty, on the 18th April, di- rected Vice-admiral Mitchell to take under his orders his majesty's ships Greenwich and Yorke, together with the "Fubbs, Henrietta, Catharine, and Mary, yachts, and to convey him, his ambassadors, and suite to Holland; and to consult the conve- nience of his majesty as to the arrangement of his company, and the port to which he might be desi- rous of proceeding. He remained but a short time in Holland, from whence he proceeded to Vienna, where he and his ambassadors were received with great pomp and splendour by the Emperor Leopold, and were entertained during their stay with dinners, balls, and concerts, in a style of magnificent hospi- tality. But entertainments of this kind were not exactly suited to the taste of the Tzar. His grand object in visiting Vienna was to make himself ac- qainted with the dress and accoutrements, the dis- cipline, and tactics of the emperor's army, con- sidered at that time to be composed of the best troops in Europe. During his residence at the emperor's court, Peter received accounts from the young nobles whom he had despatched to Italy under General Scherematof, stating the preparations which the senate of Venice was making for the reception of so great a monarch ; and the desire which his holi- ness the pope had expressed to receive him in a 98 MEMOIR OF i manner suited to his high station, indulging a hope that his visit might have the effect, so long wished for, of reuniting the Greek and Latin churches. One of the young persons sent to Venice was of the family of Golownin, a favourite of the Tzar ; his instructions were to make himself acquainted with the construction of their galleys, and with the Italian language. This is the person probably who is said never to have quitted his room, that he might not have to reproach himself with seeing any other country than his own, which was considered by the Muscovite priests as a horrible crime. When, at the expiration of four years, he returned, and Peter took him to Voronitz, that he might there judge of the progress he had made, he soon dis- covered that he knew nothing of naval architecture. The Tzar good-naturedly observed, he supposed he had passed his time in studying the language and literature : he said no, he knew nothing of either. " Then what the devil have you been doing at Ven- ice ?" asked the Tzar. " Sire," he replied, " I smoked my pipe, I drank brandy, and very rarely stirred out of my room." Peter, half- angry and half-laughing, told him to get out of his sight, for that he was only fit to be made one of his fools. At the moment, however, that Peter was prepar- ing to set out on his journey to Italy, he received intelligence from Moscow that demanded his imme- diate presence in that capital. This was nothing ""ess than an account of a rebellion which had bro- Ken out among the Strelitzes, fomented, as most of the accounts stated, by the priests and the party of Sophia, who had infused into the minds of the peo- ple that the object of the Tzar's travels was to sub- vert their holy religion ; to bring a host of foreign- ers among them ; and to change the ancient man- ners and customs of his subjects ; and that the first thing would be to cashier the whole corps of the Strelitzes. Thus abetted, these people, to the PETER THE GREAT. 99 number of about 8000, marched from the borders of Lithuania toward Moscow, but were opposed by General Patrick Gordon. He first began to parley with them, and told them if they had any grievances he would see them redressed ; but they would listen to no terms, and persisted in forcing their way to Moscow. A battle ensued, in which a great number of these infatuated men were slain, and the rest surrendered themselves prisoners, and were marched to the capital. Several examinations were made in order to detect the real abetters, and the object of the rebellion ; and numbers were thrown into prison to await the decision of the Tzar, who would undoubtedly return with all speed, on being made acquainted with the disagreeable intelligence. CHAPTER V. The Tzar inflicts dreadful Punishment on the Conspirators — Commences his System of Reform — Death of Le Fort- Prepares a large Fleet at Voronitz, on the Don — Commences a War with Sweden. We have yet seen nothing of the character and actions of the Tzar Peter which could convey any impression but that of his being a lively, bustling, well-conditioned man; kind-hearted and grateful for any little attention bestowed on him ; and that his errors or deficiencies were those of education only. He must now, however, be exhibited in a different point of view. He had now seen a little of the world beyond the confines of Russia: he had now witnessed the comforts of that civilized and social life which he found the people generally to enjoy under a free government, where commerce flourished, and the arts and sciences were culti- vated and encouraged ; and it can hardly be supposed that, amid all his extravagant freaks and frolicksome 100 MEMOIR OF manners, not always quite becoming the high des- tiny to which he had been called, he had been re- gardless of the importance of the situation he was about to fulfil, and of the duties that would be required of him. On the contrary, he gave many proofs that, without ostentation, he was employed in treasuring up lessons of experience, collected both in Holland and England. He had, besides, now attained a period of life when thoughtless levity may be expected to give way to sober reflection. He had a son, too, whose advancing years claimed a father's attention, in preparing for him an educa- tion more suitable than his own had been, for the heir-apparent to a throne, which, as far as human foresight could determine, he was destined to fill. " During seventeen months," says a modern wri- ter, " Germany, Holland, England, Austria, had their eyes on a young barbarian of five-and-twenty, whom a perfidious sister had delivered up, from the most tender age, to the most violent passions ; who, de- lighting in wine, in women, in command — had left his absolute throne, a war successfully commenced, and all the seductions which besiege power — to visit, with the compass, the hatchet, the scalpel, in his hand, their manufactories, their workshops, their hospitals, and to study practically those sciences which alone, in the midst of his subjects, he had judged indispensable to their prosperity, to their glory, to their independence. This example," he adds, " unique in history, is, without doubt, the ex- ample of a despot — a despot by birth, a despot-by condition, by necessity, by the ascendency of genius, by temperament, and because slaves must, of neces- sity, have a master — but, what is most irreconcila- ble, a despot more patriotic, more constantly and entirely devoted to the welfare of his country, than any republican citizen, whether ancient or modern."* * Histoire de Russie, &c. par M. Le General Comte de S4gur. PETER THE GREAT. 101 Never, perhaps, in the history of the world, was a young monarch possessed of supreme and undi- vided authority, " a despot by condition and neces- sity," placed in a more trying situation than that of Peter on his arrival at Moscow. A third rebellion, fomented by the same instruments as the former, had broken forth in his absence, whose object was to subvert the government and deprive him of the throne. It is true, it had been quelled by the exer- tions and able measures taken by General Patrick Gordon ; but the chiefs of the conspirators and the numerous prisoners had not been disposed of. It was, besides, the general belief that the members of his own family would be found among the agents and instigators of the undisciplined and lawless rab- ble ; and that the trial and the punishment of the principal offenders should be left, till the arrival of him who was most deeply interested in the issue. It was admitted by all who were not blinded by prejudice, that nothing was left to the Tzar but to destroy his enemies, or to become their victim ; and such was, undoubtedly, the opinion they impressed on his mind. Peter, therefore, at once determined, by an ex- treme severity of punishment, to crush any future attempt in the quarter from which he had every reason to believe the disturbances had proceeded. Accordingly, on the day after his arrival, he com- menced his proceedings by ordering rich rewards to be bestowed on the soldiers who had distinguished themselves against the rebels : all the agents, known or suspected to have been concerned in the revolt, were examined before the assembled senators, boy- ars, and military officers, in his presence, and many of them sentenced to death. Some were first bro- ken on the wheel, and then beheaded. Many were hung on gibbets, erected near the gates of the city. Numerous dead bodies of the first class of citizens were laid by the sides of the highway, with their 12 102 MEMOIR OF heads near them, where they were suffered to remain in a frozen state the whole winter, as a terror and example to all passengers. Stone pillars were erected along the roads, on which were recorded the crime and punishment of the rebels. It is stated, in some accounts, that two thousand of the Strelitzes were put to death, but Gordon* mentions nothing of this ; indeed, such wholesale murder is highly im- probable. About four thousand had been put in prison ; they perhaps were decimated, and the rest dispersed through the distant provinces of the em- pire. The details of these executions, if true to their full extent, are horrible — and for the severity of them it is difficult to find apology or palliation : they appear to have been more than was necessary, even in Russia, and under the very worst view that can be taken of the circumstances of the case. It is true that, in the time of Peter, heads were taken off with as little ceremony in Muscovy as in Mo- rocco ; but the Tzar had never yet shown himself a vengeful character, or that his mind was steeled against the sympathies of human nature. He might have thought, with Hamlet, that, on the present occasion, " he must be cruel only to be kind ;" and that a terrible example was necessary to prevent the recurrence of such a revolt. It is not to be credited, however, that he was such a monster as some of the foreign ministers at his court have rep- resented; such as, in particular, a person of the name of Korb, secretary to the Austrian envoy, has described, in a journal written in Latin, filled with all manner of falsehoods and absurdities. This * This is the author, Alexander, not Patrick ; as the latter was the general who vanquished the rebels, it is much to be wished that his manuscript journal had not been sent back to Russia : there is every likelihood that its publication would at least lighten the stain which foreign writers have endeavoured to fix on the character of Peter in this transaction. PETER THE GREAT. 103 man says, that the Tzar ordered each of the judges to be the executioner of his own sentence ; that Peter himself struck off the heads of eighty persons, the boyar Plescowjholding the criminals by the hair, that his majesty might have a fair stroke ; that Prince Boris Galitzin took off five-and-twenty heads, but so clumsily that the criminals suffered greatly ; that Prince Rodomonowski performed no better; that not less than two hundred of the Strelitzes were roasted on piles of wood ; and he further states, that M. Le Fort and Baron de Plumberg begged to be excused from taking upon them the office of executioners, alleging it was not the cus- tom of their country ; that the excuse was admitted, but, at the same time, the Tzar observed, " there was no sacrifice more agreeable to the Deity than the blood of a criminal." Another of these diplomatic gentlemen, from the court of Prussia, of the name of Printz, has stated in his private memoirs, said to be deposited in the archives of Berlin, that, at a great entertainment given by Peter I., this sovereign caused to be brought from their prisons about twenty of the Strelitzes ; that, at each glass which he emptied, he struck off one of their heads with his own hand ; Bnd that he proposed to this envoy to try his skill in this business. An account of this exhibition, it seems, was sent by Frederick II. to Voltaire, who, however, had sufficient grounds, in the documents sent to him from Russia, for refusing all credit to the absurd tale of an envoy. It has been observed, indeed, that, in his history of Charles XII., he had credited the story. This is true, but, at that time, he had only the reports of those diplomatists. From them he there says, " He (the Tzar) has been known to execute, with his own hands, his own sentences against criminals ; and, at a table debauch, display his dexterity at cutting off heads." 104 MEMOIR OF These monstrous stories have, however at a much later period, been copied by a respectable writer,* who ought to have considered the degree of credit that was due to the Austrian secretary, who professes his only authority to have been de- rived from some German officers in the service of Peter; who, in all likelihood, were quizzing the secretary, or cramming him with food for a des- patch to his employers. The statement that Le Fort was present at these pretended orgies is quite sufficient to prove the falsehood of such a story, but has not prevented a repetition of it by a modern author, whose imaginative genius and theatrical style are exercised to produce effect rather than to state fact. " The cruel Tzar," he says, " from the height of his throne, assists with a dry eye at these executions ; he does more ; he mingles with the joys of the table the horrors of the punishment. Drunk with wine and with blood, the glass in one hand, the hatchet in the other, in one single hour twenty successive libations mark the fall of twenty heads of the Strelitz."t The same Korb, whose authority even Mr. Coxe says is to be depended on, talks of two hundred and thirty Strelitzes being hung up close to the windows of the nunnery in which Sophia was confined. Gor- don, it is true, says, Peter caused a gallows to be set up opposite to the windows of her apartments, whereon he ordered three Strelitzes to be hung up, holding petitions towards her in their hands. This was a cruel and brutal act, even if Sophia, which was not proved, had any share in the conspiracy. These executions being ended, and the whole body of the Strelitzes dispersed and drafted into the different regiments recently formed, the attention of Peter was immediately directed to a more pleas- * Levesque, Histoire de Iiussie, published in 1785. f Histoire de Russie, par M. Le S^gur. PETER THE GREAT. 105 ing, and, it is to be hoped, a more congenial sub- ject, — the regeneration of his country, and the aug- mentation and better organization of the regular army. The dress of the Russian soldier was on the Tartar model — a long coat reaching to the heels and belted round the waist, loose drawers not un- like a petticoat, a conical helmet or cap on the head, and a face covered with a long bushy beard — all which, besides the awkward appearance, was highly inconvenient, and served only as a cover for indolence, inactivity, and filth. The objection to such a dress was equally applicable in civil as in military life ; but he knew well enough the odium he would excite by shortening the skirts and shaving .the beards of his subjects, and that some risk would be incurred, by attacking the ancient prejudices, the fixed habits, and the barbarous manners of a whole nation. He was aware that he would have to com- bat with thousands that were enemies to all reform, and to himself personally ; and that the millions of serfs and slaves even would resent if not resist, such an attack on their deep-rooted prejudices. Even those who were most friendly disposed grew frightened at the sweeping reform which they knew he had in contemplation : some from a general dislike of innovation ; others, because their interests were likely to be affected ; and others, again, for no better reason than a desire that things should re- main as they were, and had so long been, thinking probably, with the simple Ophelia, " We know what we are, but know not what we may be." These considerations did not escape the Tzar, but he deemed it worth the trial, at some hazard, to remove the exterior emblems of barbarism, and to substi- tute the more decent and commodious garb of civil- zation — and thus to remove the visible bar of sepa- ration between the Russian and the Western Euro- pean. He ordained, therefore, that not the army alone, 106 MEMOIR OF but all ranks of citizens, should shave their beards, and dock the skirts of their coats ; and that on all those, who after a given time should disobey the order, a tax should be levied of one hundred rubles, which soon became a productive source of revenue, such was the pertinacity in preserving their beards, as a distinguishing mark from foreigners, for whom they entertained an inveterate hatred. The priests and the peasantry were only required to pay a copeck every time they passed the gate of a city. The col- lectors of this tax gave a small copper coin as a re- ceipt, on one side of which was stamped the figure of a nose, mouth, mustachios, and a long bushy beard, with the words " token of payment," and on the reverse the date of the year.* * Parmi les monnaies frappees sous le regne de L'Empereur Pierre le Grand, on remarque une piece nommee " borodovaia 7 * (barbue) ; elle portait en emgie un proril, avec une barbe. Elle se distribuoit aux schismatiques qui payaient un impot poui conserver le droit de porter la barbe. — Le Compte de Laveau. On one side Deuyee Vyeatee — money received. On the other Goda, An. 1705. PETER THE GREAT. 107 We have Peter's own account of the reform which he commenced in the year 1699. He says, he regu- lated the printing-press— caused translations to be made and printed of different books on engineering, artillery, mechanics, and other arts, as well as books of history and chronology. He founded a school for the marine, and by degrees those for other sci- ences and arts ; schools also for the Latin, German, and other languages. He permitted his subjects to trade in foreign countries, which before they could not do on pain of death ; and not only gave them permission, but obliged them to go. He instituted the order of St. Andrew, the apostle of Russia. He signed with his own hand, which his predecessors had rarely done, all despatches, manifestoes, and treaties with Christian powers.* Peter had soon seen the folly and inconvenience of preserving a calendar different from that of all other European nations. The Russians began their year on the first of September. Peter gave out an order that an alteration should be made, and that the year 1700 should commence, as among all other ^Christian nations, on the first of January, which day 'was to be celebrated by a general jubilee, and other great solemnities. This innovation, in the minds of the refractory priests, was even worse than anti- christ ; for, according to them, as God created the world in the month of September, he meant that the creation of it should be dated from that period. The great bulk of the people were puzzled to find out how the Tzar would be able to change the course of the sun. It required some time to reconcile the [Russians to the change, and many of them contin- ued to observe the old era ; but when all the public (Offices, the courts of justice, and the army and navy lhad adopted the new style, it very soon became [general. * Journal de Pierre le Grand. 108 MEMOIR OF It had been the custom for ladies not to ass©* ciate with the other sex at feasts or entertain- ments, or, if admitted into the same apartment, they had always a separate table. When a young girl was about to be married, she was not al- lowed to see her betrothed till the day of the cere- mony ; and, among the nobility, when one of their sons was to take a wife, the usual practice was, as already mentioned in the case of the Tzar Alexis, to assemble all the young ladies of rank in some large room ; and the young gentleman who was in search of a wife, after examining the group, pitched upon the lady that struck his fancy most, and she became his bride. Peter not only abolished this absurd oriental custom, but, by inviting both sexes, whether married or unmarried, to his assemblies, the fashion of mix- ing together at their own houses became general ; and he thus rescued the female part of the nation from a state of abasement little short of absolute slavery. Peter had not been unmindful, when he instituted the order of St. Andrew, of the good effect produced by the distribution of honours and orders for merito-* rious services, in the armies of the sovereigns of Europe, whose courts he had visited; and that these decorations gave a brilliancy which was wanting in his own ; and as these marks of distinction cost no- thing to the country, and flattered the vanity of those who obtained them, while they added nothing to their influence, he not only instituted the order above mentioned, but appointed his favourite, Golownin, whom he had raised to the dignity of admiral, as the first knight of that order, thereby marking his pre- dilection for the naval service. As the example which Peter had himself set could not well be refused by his subjects, he had less difficulty, in the formation of his new troops, in obliging the sons of the boyars and the kneezes (or princes) to serve in the capacity of common soldiers, PETER THE GREAT. 109 before they could hold commissions as officers. Other young men, on the same principle, were sent to serve in his fleet at Voronitz, on the Don, and be- fore Asoph, as common sailors, from which situa- tion they wefe to rise to commands through the sev- eral gradations. He was particularly attentive to the building, repairing, and equipping a large fleet on the Don, in which he was assisted by the English officers that he had carried out with him, and those that had been sent from Holland. His grand scheme of joining the Don and the Volga, in which Brakel the German engineer had failed, was now resumed, under Captain Perry, who had also the direction of constructing basins, sluices, and careening- wharves for his squadron. The Tzar, having made his arrangements for giving official effect to these and some other innovations, set off for Voronitz to inspect the naval works carry- ing on at that place, but had not been long absent when the intelligence of the sudden death of his much-esteemed and valued friend Le Fort reached him. This unlooked-for event overwhelmed him with deep distress. It was, in fact, the most severe loss that he could have sustained at this time, as it deprived him of that valuable assistance he had cal- culated upon, in bringing all his projects into suc- cessful operation. This excellent man was snatched away by an untimely fate at the age of forty-six, in the month of March, 1699. His remains were hon- oured by a public funeral, which Vied with the mag* nificence of the most splendid obsequies that sove- reigns are accustomed to receive. The Tzar hast- ened back to Moscow to assist in person in the fune- ral procession ; and as this extraordinary monarch never acted without a motive, he took his station behind all the captains, as a lieutenant, the rank he bore in General Le Fort's regiment ; in order that the nobility and his courtiers might see, that on no occasion did he lose sight of that respect which was K 110 MEMOIR OF due to merit and to military subordination. The remains were deposited in the Dutch Reformed church in Moscow, where a monument was erected to his memory, bearing a long inscription in the Latin and Dutch languages. Thus the name of Le Fort will go down to posterity, along with that of his master, as a benefactor to the whole Russian nation. It has been said that the extravagant proceedings of Peter, when on his travels in Holland and Eng- land, and his affected labouring as a common ship- wright, were the mere freaks of a wild and unsteady young man, and tended to no useful purpose. The following letter, written by Mr. Deane, a brother of Sir Anthony Deane, commissioner and surveyor of the navy, dated Moscow, in March, 1699, soon after the Tzar's return, will prove that such was by no means the case : — Moscow, March 8, 169 1, O.S. " My Lord,— I have deferred writing, till I could be able to give your lordship a true account (from my own knowledge) of the Tzar (our master's) navy, which, being a new thing in the world as yet, I believe, is variously talked of in England, &c. First, at Voronize there are already in the water and rigged thirty-six, and to be launched in the spring twenty more stout ships, from thirty to sixty guns. Next, eighteen very large galleys (built after the Venetian manner by Italian masters) are already completed ; and one hundred smaller galleys or brigantines are equipped for the sea : seven bomb-ships are launched and rigged, and four fire-ships are building against the spring, when they are all to go down to Azoph. The ships are chiefly built by the Dutch and Danes. " At my arrival in Moscow, I fell very ill of the bloody-flux, which made me be in Moscow when his majesty came home : about the latter end of October I was somewhat recovered ; his majesty then carried PETER THE GREAT. Ill rae down to Voronize with him. Voronize is about 400 English miles south-east from Moscow. There the Tzar immediately set up a ship of sixty guns, where he is both foreman and master-builder ; and, not to flatter him, I'll assure your lordship it will be the best ship among them, and it is all from his own draught : how he framed her together, and how he made the mould, and in so short a time as he did, is really wonderful. But he is able, at this day, to put his own notions into practice, and laugh at his Dutch and Italian builders for their ignorance. There are several pieces of workmanship, as in the keel, stern, and post, which are purely his own invention, and sound good work, and would be approved of by all the shipwrights of England, if they saw it. She has a round tuck, and a narrow floor, a good tumbling- home, and circular side : none are to exceed eleven Dutch feet draught of water. He has not run into any extreme, but taken the mediums of all good sailing properties which seem best. One may, methinks, call her an abstract of his own private observations while abroad, strengthened by your lordship's improving discourses to him on that sub- ject, and his own extraordinary notion of sailing. One thing as to her keel is, that should it wholly be beat out, yet it is so ordered that the ship will be tight and safe, and may continue so at sea after- ward.* " I likewise made a suit of moulds for a ship of sixty guns, but after some time fell sick again : and at Christmas, when his majesty came to Moscow, he brought me back again for recovery of my health, where I am at present; notwithstanding both our ships go forward, having put things in such a pos- ture, as that a Grecian (who has been in England) * This alludes to her bottom being one solid mass — a mode of building practised in Holland centuries ago, and on the west coast of India centuries before that, but which is a recent in- vention in England. 212 MEMOIR OF carries on the business. Mr. Ney* is building a sixty-gun ship there too ; besides, there are four of that size (near built) upon the Don, two of forty guns already at Azoph, carried down some time since, and a great many galleys, &c. " The river Vorona, at Voronize, when I was there,, was hardly so broad as the ships are long : but in the spring, about the latter end of April, or beginning of May, when the snow melts, there is sixteen feet water in that little river, which continues this height about twelve or fourteen days, with a rapid torrent, with that force, that though it be 1000 miles down to Azoph, yet the ships will easily be there in nine or ten days. " His majesty was at my chamber two days of last week, with Mr. Styles, as interpreter (who gives his humble duty to your lordship). You may guess what his majesty came to be informed in, while he was there. I showed him a model of a machine to bring up the Royal Transport to the Volga, at seven- teen inches draught of wa'ter ; he was pleased to like it, but gave no orders for putting it in execution, so, I believe, she will lie where she is now, and perish. Here are three envoys, viz. the Emperor's, the Danes', and Brandenburg's, in this Slabodo (as it is called), which lies from Moscow as Lambeth does from London. The whole place is inhabited by the Dutch ; I believe there may be four hundred families. Last Sunday and Monday the strangers were invited to the consecration of General Le Fort's new house, which is the noblest building in Russia, and finely furnished. There were all the envoys, and, as near as I could guess, two hundred gentlemen, English, French, and Dutch, and about as many ladies ; each day were dancing and music. — All the envoys and all the lords (but three, in Moscow) are going to Voronize, to see the fleet, I suppose. * Another English shipwright, PETER THE GREAT. 113 "His majesty went, last Sunday, to Voronize, with Prince Alexander, and I am to go down (being somewhat recovered) with the vice-admiral, about six days hence. This day was a muster of all the seamen and officers of his majesty's service, three- fourths of which are discharged. They are to go home by the way of Narva. Captain Perry, who was sent to make a communication between the rivers Volga and Don, near Astracan, is returned from surveying the same ; he makes it appear feasi- ble enough to be done ; accordingly his majesty has ordered forty" thousand men to be raised, and mate- rials provided for doing the same ; which he has promised to finish in five years, though I believe it may be done in less. When that is performed, then the Tzar may carry his ships from the Black Sea into the Caspian Sea, and extend his conquest that way. u My lord, what I have writ, I wish it may be any satisfction to your lordship, and I have my end, who am, &c. John Deane. " Postscript. — Since my writing this, General Le Fort is dead of a high fever; and we expect his majesty up this night from Voronitz."* This letter affords abundant proof how much this extraordinary young monarch had profited by his travels. Indeed there is no parallel, in ancient or modern history, of a powerful and absolute sove- reign, in the undisputed possession of the throne of a most extensive empire, ruling with unlimited sway, uncontrolled by any other authority — of a prince, in the full vigour of life, with the most am- ple means of indulging in the gratification of every luxury and pleasure that fancy, or caprice, or pas- sion could suggest — of a youth of five-and-twenty, * A letter from Moscow to the Marquis of Caermarthen, relating to the Tzar of Muscovy's forwardness in his great navy, &c. since his return home. By John Deane. This gen- tleman died at Moscow the same year. K2 1 14 MEMOIR OF relinquishing all the enjoyments and all the fascina- tions that are supposed to court the high and palmy state of a throne, abandoning them all-— and for what 1 — to travel in foreign countries, as an obscure individual, for the sake of acquiring personal and practical information and instruction; sacrificing every luxury and every pomp which wealth and re- gal power could command, and submitting himself to undergo the daily drudgery, the mean clothing, and frugal diet of a common working shipwright. The Tzar, having performed the last obsequies to his friend, returned to his favourite dock-yard, at Voronitz, where a vast number of foreigners, of all descriptions, had been collected, consisting gene- rally of English, Dutch, German, and Italian arti- ficers. Peter mixed with these without ceremony, dressed generally like the workmen, in a round hat, jacket, and trousers, paying great attention to every thing that was going on, conversing freely with the Dutch more especially, whose language he perfectly understood. If he happened to see some poor fellow struggling with his loaded wheelbarrow, he would put him aside, and seizing hold of the handles, trun- dle it away to the required spot. Sometimes he would take a spade and show the people how to use it to the best advantage. When an accident hap- pened to any of the workmen, he was always the first to afford them relief, to dress their wounds, and, if necessary, to bleed them, at which he was par- ticularly expert. While thus superintending the workmen, and bustling about the whole day, he was always placid and in good-humour, appearing quite a different per- son from the stern sovereign who had so recently dealt out those terrible punishments at Moscow, from the judgment-seat of which it would seem as if he fled hither to calm and relieve his exasperated feelings. Peter was, in truth, cruel from circum- stances, and not by nature ; a thousand little traits PETER THE GREAT. 115 proved the kindness of his disposition, more par- ticularly to those who stood most in need of ex- periencing it. It was his custom frequently to visit, in their humble abodes, his subjects of the lower classes ; and he never refused to hold their little ones at the baptismal font ; a condescension for which he had perpetual calls from one class or another of his subjects. To the first-born of the officers and soldiers of his own regiment of guards he almost always was called upon to stand god- father ; and contented himself with giving a kiss to the mother, and putting a ruble, and sometimes a ducat, under the pillow. The Empress Elizabeth told Staehlin that young Peter, son of the unfortunate Alexis, having one day mentioned to her that he had sent a hundred ducats to the wife of an officer of the guards, to whose child he had stood godfather, she told him that, if he acted so magnificently, he must be provided with a heavy purse. " My father," said the empress, "who stood sponsor to as many as wished it, and who refused none, did not do so — a kiss to the mother, and a ducat under the pillow, were all, and the parents were well satisfied." On his return to, and short residence at, Moscow, he mixed more familiarly than before with the re- spectable part of the inhabitants, and made frequent visits to the foreign ministers and foreign merchants settled there. These visits, indeed, were not always quite convenient to those who received them, as he was sometimes accompanied by a train of fifty or sixty persons. The Dutch envoy requested the States-General to make him an allowance, to meet the extraordinary expense. The visits of sovereigns, however flattering to the vanity of those individuals whom they are pleased to honour, are frequently attended with so much inconvenience, that they should be " like angel visits, short and far between." We have a specimen in that honest Dutch travel- ler, Cornelius Le Bruyn, of the familiar and easy 116 memoir or manner in which Peter conversed with strangers, Le Bruyn happened to be present at one of those visits made by the Tzar at the house of a Dutch merchant of^he name of Brandt, and this, the trav- eller conceived, gave him the privilege of making his profound respects to his majesty, the next time he came into his presence. Peter looked at him, and asked him, in Dutch, " Hoe wiet zy wie ik ben, en hoe komt zy my te kennen V — How know you who I am, and how came you to know me! "I answered," says Le Bruyn, "that I had seen his portrait in London, and that it had made too strong an impression on my mind not to recollect it." This not appearing satisfactory to the Tzar, Le Bruyn added that he had seen his majesty at his friend Brandt's. He then overwhelmed him with a whole volley of those questions which would appear to form a kind of royal catechism for all nations. u He asked me of what city I was — who my parents were — if they were still living — if I had any brothers or sisters ? He then inquired as to my former travels — in what year I had undertaken them—how long I had been about them — in what manner I made them, and how I returned from them — and a multitude of questions of this kind." Le Bruyn, one day after this, met the Tzar at the palace of Menzikoff, making experiments with some fire-engines. On seeing him, he desired he would go with him into the house, saying, " You have seen a great number of things, but I doubt whether you ever met with what I am going to show you ;" at the same time ordering a poor miserable object to be brought before him, and that his clothes should be taken off. Le Bruyn describes him as having an excrescence, just above the navel, about the length of a hand, and four inches thick, through which almost all the nourishment he took came out, in a half-digested state ; and adds that the poor man had been in this condition for nine years. The Tzar, he PETER THE GREAT. 117 says, appeared to take a great interest in the suffer- ings of this unhappy Russian.* The immediate object of the fleet of gun-boats and other vessels which the Tzar was building and pre- paring on the Don was the protection of Asoph ; but the ultimate view was, no doubt, as already observed, to push his conquests to the shores of the Black Sea. Nor was the accomplishment of this great point, which might afford him the free navigation of that inland sea, sufficient to satisfy his ardent desire for the prosperity and improvement of his country. From the great ocean he would still be excluded ; and he was fully aware that the navigation of this alone could afford him a free communication with the maritime states of Europe. He had seen enough on his travels to convince him that unfettered com- merce was the great source of civilization and wealth. The forest of masts that mev his eye everywhere on the Thames, the number of ships that crowded the ports and canals of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, could not fail to convince a person of his penetration, that Russia, to be great, must have some other port, con- nected with the great ocean, than the only one she then possessed, at the northern extremity of his do- minions, which was accessible for shipping only six months in the year, by a sea that was frozen up the other six, and at all times dangerous ; and removed to a great distance, too, both from the maritime na- tions of western Europe and from his own capital. But the barbarous people whom it was his destiny to enlighten were averse to any extension of com- mercial intercourse. What, indeed, could be hoped from a people so immersed in ignorance as to per- suade themselves that the foreign ships which came to Archangel for their corn and timber, their hemp, hides, and tallow, resorted thither as to a country which was the granary and storehouse of all Europe? * Voyage de Cornelius Le Bruyn, ] 18 MEMOIR OF The Chinese say, that Heaven has conferred on the celestial empire a plant which it has refused to all other nations of the earth ; but that their heavenly emperor, in his great benevolence, has kindly per- mitted the Fan-guei, or barbarous brutes of other countries, to participate in the enjoyment of this precious blessing. Thus also the Russians, like the Chinese with their tea, were pleased to think it a great indulgence to let foreign traders take away the precious products of their soil, which nature had denied to other countries, and without which the natives of those countries would be in danger of perishing through cold and famine. It was no easy matter for the Tzar, all powerful as he was, to convince such barbarians that, to make them a great and flourishing people, they must have what another great captain so fiercely thirsted for, " ships, colonies, and commerce." These were the objects on which it was apparent he constantly kept his eye. The encouragement which he gave to learned men to traverse the untrodden regions of Siberia — the mission of Ysbrant Ides to China — the attempts to open a commerce with India by the Cas- pian Sea, through Bucharia — the expedition of Beh- ring to discover a north-east passage, with instruc- tions written with his own hand — all tended to one and the same object — that of making Russia a great commercial nation. Still, however, something was considered to be wanting to complete his views in this respect — and , that was a free and uninterrupted communication with the great ocean — an object which, it appeared to him, could only be obtained by having the com- mand of the one or the other coast of that part of the Baltic called the Gulf of Finland ; and both of these had long been, and still were, in the possession of the Swedes, who had also the two banks of the Neva, up to the Lake of Ladoga. Thus he found tiimself hemmed in on every side, in the only quar« PETER THE GREAT. 119 £ ter where his ardent wishes could be accomplished, i He had seen Riga on his travels, and met there with a blunt refusal to be admitted into the citadel : he said little at the time, except that he should prob- I ably meet with more civility at his next visit, — for ; he hoped to see the day when he should have the honour to refuse the same piece of civility to the i King of Sweden himself. Something more than is • stated by authors must here have occurred; for I Peter, in his journal, asks Augustus King of Poland i to avenge the insult which D'Alberg had offered him, !•" ou il put a peine sauver sa vie."* The fine posi- tion of Riga at the bottom of the Gulf of Livonia, (opening into the Baltic, and the recollection of its having once belonged to Russia, were not lost to this penetrating mind. An opening now presented itself on which he was but too ready to seize ; it (was that of a combined offensive alliance of three jpowers against Sweden, which promised a fair chance of putting him in possession of the grand object of his wishes ; and without such assistance, 'considering the' recent formation of his army, he • could not hope to obtain it single-handed against the ■ old and well-disciplined troops of that nation. The greater part of Livonia and Esthonia had been ceded by Poland to Charles the Eleventh of Sweden. Augustus, the Elector of Saxony, having been called by choice to the throne of Poland, conceived the de- sign of recovering these provinces. Peter, at the same time, was meditating his grand scheme of na- Itional improvement, and had resolved to begin by endeavouring to make himself master of Ingria and Carelia. The King of Denmark, who had suffered greatly from the Swedish arms, hastened to conclude a league with the Tzar and Augustus against the young King of Sweden, Charles XII. , who was now (1700) only eighteen years of age. The objects then * Journal de Pierre le Grand, 120 MEMOIR OF of the war to be undertaken by these confederates were threefold — for Russia, the reunion of Ingria and Carelia — for Poland, the recovery of Livonia and Esthonia-— and, for Denmark, the provinces of Holstein and Sleswick. The Tzar was the more ready to enter into this confederacy, as he had just succeeded in concluding a truce for twenty-five years with the Turks, and, therefore, was not likely to have occasion to draw off his forces towards the southward. Sweden became alarmed at the report of the preparations that were making against her, and had little confidence in the young king, who had hitherto shown no inclination for public business, nor evinced any ardour for military pursuits. It was therefore proposed in council, at which Charles sat, to avert the storm by negotiation ; when the young prince* with great gravity and a resolute tone, said, " I am resolved never to enter upon an unjust war, nor to end a just one but by the destruction of my enemies. I will attack the first who shall declare against me* and when I have conquered him, I may hope to strike terror into the rest."* From that moment he renounced all his former habits and amusements* Eight thousand men were immediately marched into Pomerania, and he embarked himself with his prime minister, Count Piper, and General Renschild, in a ship of a hundred and twenty guns ; andfwith a fleet of upwards of forty sail, offered battle to the Danish fleet, which was declined : he then steadily pursued his course, and prepared to lay siege to Copenhagen . — but obtained 400,000 rix-dollars from the deputies who were sent to him to negotiate, as the condition for his abstaining from the bombardment of the city. In short, he compelled the King of Denmark, within six weeks, to sign a peace, which restored Holstein * Voltaire's Hist, of Charles XII. JPETER THE GREAT, 121 to the duke, its lawful sovereign, and indemnified him for all the expenses of the war. The King of Poland was not more successful. He laid siege to Riga, the capital of Livonia, — and received notice that the Tzar was on the march with a hundred thousand men to join him. Count Fleming commanded the Polish forces, — but the experience of the old Count D'Alberg, the same who refused Peter leave to enter the citadel, rendered all the efforts of the besiegers fruitless ; and the King of Poland, despairing of success, availed himself of a plausible pretext for raising the siege. Riga was at that time full of merchandise belonging to the Dutch. The States-General ordered their ambassador to the King Augustus to make proper representations to him on the subject. " The King of Poland," says Voltaire, " did not stand in need of much entreaty. He consented to raise the siege rather than occasion the least injury to his allies; who were not immoderately surprised at his excessive complaisance, as they knew the real cause of it." Thus the young King of Sweden, relieved entirely from one of the confederates, and having defeated the object and dispersed the army of the second, was now left to prepare a force to oppose the designs of the third ; whom, though by far the most powerful, confident in the discipline of his troops, he affected to despise, L 122 MEMOIR OF CHAPTER VI. The Battle of Narva— Peter's Success against the Swedes*- History of Catharine. If experience in the art of war and success in military operations are to be the test of an able general, Peter had as yet but slender claims to that title. He had behaved most gallantly at the siege of Asoph, and his efforts were crowned with tri- umph ; but, on engaging in a war with Sweden, he had a far other enemy to encounter than Turks or Tartars. Charles, it is true, was but a boy, as in- experienced as Peter could be in the art of war : but he had able generals and a well-disciplined army, which the other had not ; with the exception of a very small portion of either. Charles had, besides, an army frequently flushed with victory. The die, however, was cast, and Peter lost no time in invading Ingriawith a force of 60,000 men, the march of whom was preceded by a manifesto, which did his cause no good ; as the chief complaint he had to make therein against Sweden was, the indignity he conceived to have been put upon him at Riga, and the enormous prices which his ambassadors, who were then travelling with him, had been charged for provisions at that place. Such were the frivolous reasons which the Tzar avowed as determining him to plunge into what, nevertheless, he, no doubt, con- sidered a just and necessary war against the young King of Sweden. Peter's first hostile operation was to lay siege to Narva, a place of considerable strength on the river Narowa, which flowed through a part of his own dominions, out of the lake Peipus into the Baltic, PETER THE GREAT. 123 The first division took up their ground before the place on the 20th September, and the siege continued to the 19th November, — on which day the Russians were attacked, and, after a short but furious conflict, were under the necessity of asking for a suspension of arms. On the preceding day, as appears from the Tzar's own journal, or history of his campaigns, Peter had left the army and gone to Novogorod, to hasten some regiments which were on their march to join the forces before Narva ; but this, it would appear, was not the only cause of his departure from the camp. It was necessary he should have an inter- view with the King of Poland, in consequence of his having raised the siege of Riga, in order that they might deliberate together concerning the common measures most expedient to be pursued. For this purpose he took with him the Marshal Count Go- lownin, minister of foreign affairs (not Menzikoff, as Voltaire says), leaving the command of the army with the Duke De Croi, a Flemish officer, and the commissary-general, Prince Dolgorouki. Charles lost no time in passing over about 9000 men into Livonia ; he himself marched northward towards Revel, driving from the neighbourhood of that place an advanced body of Russians. On ap- proaching Narva, he found the Russian army in their intrenchments, lined with more than a hundred and forty pieces of cannon, and, as various writers have it, mustering from eighty to a hundred thousand men. Peter himself, however, does not make them amount to half that number ; and General Gordon says that the whole of the Tzar's army did not ex- ceed 50,000 men, of whom 12,000 were at Novogo- rod.* Whatever the aggregate number of the Tzar's army might have been, it consisted chiefly of the old Strelitzes and the corps of twelve thousand men * Gordon's Hist. Journal de Pierre le Grand. 124 MEMOIR OF that were regularly disciplined under Le Fort ; the rest were raw recruits and serfs, drawn from the woods and wilds, clothed in skins, and armed with clubs and pikes, who knew not the use of firearms, and had never seen either battle or siege.* General Gordon (who was in the battle) says, " Being all new-raised troops, except the regiment of guards, which was of a piece with the rest, in having never been engaged before with disciplined troops, and few good officers as yet among them, it was no miracle to see an army of inexperienced raw troops, con- sisting of about thirty- four thousand men, intrenched, beat by a body of about nine thousand veterans, as good troops and as well commanded as any in Eu- rope, with so resolute a prince at their head."f General Gordon considers the intrenched position of the Russians as having been the source of a fatal security and neglect. Charles, nothing dismayed by these superior numbers, having driven in all the Russian outposts, and availing himself of a violent storm of wind and snow, which blew directly in the face of the enemy, attacked their intrenchments with his few pieces of cannon ; and, falling upon the Russians before they had time to recover them- selves, a panic seized them, which diffused itself throughout the whole army. Every man quitted his post, and the Swedes had nothing more to do than to kill and destroy a mass of men who impeded each other in their endeavours to escape, — just as a hand- ful of English troops, in storming a Burmese stock- ade, crowded with the enemy's troops, hacked and slew the undisciplined rabble that blocked up the only passage by which they attempted to escape. Many of the Russian fugitives threw themselves into the river, and were drowned ; others flung away their arms and begged, on their knees, for quarter. The Duke De Croi, General Allard, and almost all J* John Mottley. f Gordon's Hist, of Peter the Great. | PETER THE GREAT. 125 the German officers in the service, more afraid of their own mutinous Russians than of the Swedes, surrendered themselves at once to Count Steinbok. All their artillery fell into the hands of the King of Sweden. The Tzar, in his journal, says it was sur- rendered by convention, in which it was stipulated that six regimental pieces were to be kept — but that the Swedes broke faith, and did not restore these. He says, also, that it was agreed the troops were to retire with their arms and colours, which was al- lowed to the division of General Golownin, — but that, when the division of General Weyde marched off, the Swedes not only began to take from them their muskets and colours, but stripped them of their clothes. The officers, sent as prisoners to Stock- holm were, one field-marshal, and six generals, eight colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, six majors, fourteen captains, besides subalterns ; and two gene- rals and four field-officers of the Saxon auxiliaries. Peter estimates the number of his men killed to amount from 5800 to 6000, and that of the Swedes, by report, to 3000, — and states that the number of his troops that returned to Novogorod was 22,967. " Thus," says the Tzar, " it is indisputable that the Swedes obtained a victory over our troops, which as yet were but an ill-disciplined militia ; for in this action there was no other old regiment than that which is called Lefortowsky, and two regiments of guards, who had only been at the two sieges of Asoph, who had never seen an action in the open field, and still less with regular troops. It is not surprising, therefore, that old, exercised, and expe- rienced troops should have had the advantage over such as ours. It is true, notwithstanding, that this victory caused us a sensible mortification, and made us despair of more favourable success in future ; it was even regarded as a mark of the extreme wrath of God ; but, in diving into the views of Heaven, one sees that they were rather favourable than other- L2 126 MEMOIR OF wise to us ; for if we had then obtained a victory over the Swedes, being, as we were, so little in- structed in the art of war and of policy, into what an abyss might not this good fortune have sunk us ! On the contrary, this success of the Swedes cost them very dear afterward at Pultava, although they possessed so much skill and reputation that the French called them the scourge of the Germans. We, after this disastrous check, — which has been a real good fortune for us, — have been obliged to re- double our activity, and to make the utmost efforts to supply, by our circumspection, the Want of expe- rience ; and it is thus that the war has been con- tinued, as we shall see in the course of this his- tory."* With such feelings it is the less surprising that he bore his ill success with calmness and resignation : so far was he from being dispirited when first told of the decisive victory gained by the Swedes, that he showed a philosophic firmness which the intre- pidity and valour of Charles XII. himself could not have surpassed. " I know very well," said he, " that the Swedes will have the advantage of us for a con- siderable time ; but they will teach us at length to beat them." His first object was to prevent Charles from following up the blow ; and for this purpose he despatched forthwith the troops which had rendez- voused at Novogorod to Plescow, situated on the lake Peipus, by way of securing that frontier against any attempt that the enemy might make to invade the country. He then repaired to Moscow with his two regiments of guards, and issued immediate orders that a certain proportion of the bells of the churches and convents of all the cities in the empire should be forthwith cast into cannon and mortars. This was effected in the course of the winter accordingly, and one hundred pieces of cannon for sieges, and * Journal de Pierre le Grand. PETER THE GREAT. 127 one hundred and forty-two field-pieces, with twelve mortars and thirteen howitzers, were ready to be sent off to Novogorod in the spring of 1701.* He also caused six infantry regiments, of one thousand men each, to be raised, and several regiments of dragoons, which were to be trained and disciplined with as little delay as possible. Notwithstanding the inveteracy of the clergy against the innovations of Peter, which they consid- ered the cause of his defeat, and as a judgment of God, one bishop was found who undertook to com- pose a prayer, addressed, not to the Deity, but to St. Nicholas, the patron of Muscovy, which was read in all the churches. In this prayer the bishop accuses the saint of having abandoned the Russians to the furious and terrible Swedes, who were de- nounced as infidels and sorcerers. This singular document is too illustrative of the ignorance and superstition of the Muscovites to be omitted. It is as follows : — " thou who art our perpetual comforter, in all our adversities, great St. Nicholas ! infinitely pow- erful, by what sin have we offended thee, in our sac- rifices, genuflexions, reverence, and thanksgivings, that thou hast thus forsaken us 1 We have im- plored thy assistance against these terrible, insolent, enraged, dreadful, insuperable destroyers, when, like lions and bears, and other savage beasts, which have lost their young, they have attacked us, terri- fied, wounded, slain by thousands, us, who are thy people. But, as it is impossible this could have hap- pened without witchcraft and enchantment, seeing the great care that we had taken to fortify ourselves in an inaccessible manner, for the defence and se- curity of thy name; we beseech thee, great Nicholas ! to be our champion and standard-bearer, to be with us, as well in peace as in war, in all our * Journal de Pierre le Grand. 128 MEMOIR OF necessities, and in the time of our death ; to pro- tect us against this terrible and tyrannical crowd of sorcerers, and drive them far from our frontiers, with the reward which they deserve. "* The Tzar, however disregarding both St. Nicho- las and the priests, pursued steadily the course he had marked out. He had an interview with King Augustus at Birzen, on the frontier of Courland, for the purpose of confirming that prince in his resolu- tion of maintaining the war against Charles XII. and to prevail on the Polish diet to engage in the quar- rel. However disposed Augustus might be to con- tinue the war, he could not be unmindful that the King of Poland was but the head of the republic, and that it was necessary he should treat with his subjects. The Poles were in no haste to enter into the quarrel ; they dreaded any infringement on their liberties by the armies of the Saxons and the Rus- sians being quartered in their country; and they dreaded still more the displeasure of Charles. The majority of the diet determined, therefore, not to support the views of Augustus, in whom Peter now discovered he had but a weak ally, and that he had to depend solely on his own resources. General Patkul, of whom more will be said hereafter, had been the life and soul of the conferences at Birzen, and he exerted all his zeal in procuring German offi- cers, and in disciplining the raw recruits ; he was, in fact, another Le Fort. He took care that all who entered the service, whether officers or men, should be well provided with arms, clothes, and subsist- ence. The Tzar next proceeded to the lake Peipus, on which, in the course of the year 1701, he had caused to be got ready, and fully equipped, a fleet of one hundred and fifty galleys, each manned with fifty men. He inspected in his own person, the building, * Nestesuranoi. Voltaire, &c. PETER THE GREAT. 129 equipping, and manning of this flotilla, destined to prevent the Swedish vessels on this side of the lake from harassing the province of Novogorod. In like maimer, he ordered. up the seamen from the Don, to man his rising fleet, on the lake Ladoga. In the midst of all these preparations, he made frequent excursions to Moscow, to see that the progress of im- provements and his new regulations were not neg- lected or infringed. " Princes," says Voltaire, " who have employed their peaceful days in public foundations, are mentioned in history with honour; but that Peter, just after the unfortunate battle of Narva, should undertake the junction of the Baltic, Oaspiai ., and Euxine seas, is what crowns him with more real glory than he could ever have derived from the most signal victory."* It has always been a subject of surprise that, after the victory of Narva, when Charles might have car- ried every thing before him in Russia, he should have directed his sole attention to Poland, treating the former as if unworthy of his notice ; while Peter was left at full liberty, not only to recruit and disci- pline a new army, but also to design and carry into execution many great and important improvements : such as introducing from Saxony flocks of sheep, and shepherds to attend them, for the sake of their wool ; erecting linen and paper manufactories ; building hospitals ; inviting from abroad braziers, blacksmiths, armourers, and other artisans of every description ; and, in fact, cultivating, in the midst of war, all the arts of peace. But for pursuits of this kind Charles XII. himself had no taste ; he appeared not to be- stow a thought either on the welfare of his own country, or on the proceedings of Peter, whom he left unmolested and quite at his ease during the whole year 1702 ; having made up his mind not to quit Poland until he had driven from the throne thg * History of the Russian Empire, &c, 130 MEMOIR OF newly-elected sovereign and ally of the Tzar, Au- gustus, the Elector of Saxony. The Russian army was, in the mean time, far from being idle ; on the contrary, it was gaining experi- ence and confidence by the frequent skirmishes the several detachments had with the Swedes, particu- larly in Ingria and Livonia. Peter himself was moving about in all directions ; one week he was at Plescow, the next he made his appearance at Mos- cow, and the third at Archangel, to which place he had proceeded on a report that the Swedes were intending to destroy the small establishment which was kept up at that port. On coming thither, he drew the plan of a new fortress, for its better secu- rity, to which he gave the name of the NewDwina, and of which he himself laid the first stone. His General Scherematof succeeded in capturing what is called a Swedish frigate, on the lake Peipus. He was also successful against the Swedes in the neigh- bourhood of Dorpt, or Dorpat, on the frontiers of Livonia, in an action with the Major-general Schlip- penbach in which the Russians took a great number of prisoners, and some colours. On the 1st of Janu- ary, 1702, this officer fell in with the main body of the enemy, near a village named Eresfort. " As our troops," says the Tzar, " were new, and but little exercised, and our artillery had not arrived, the enemy threw a great part of our men into confusion, and obliged them to fall back; but on being joined by our artillery, their retreat was stopped; our men being again formed in order of battle, attacked with so much vigour that, after an action of four hours, the Swedes were compelled to yield, to aban- don their artillery, and to fly. The enemy lost in this action the greater part of his troops, as three thousand lay dead on the field of battle. Of our men about one thousand were killed."* * Journal de Pierre le Grand, PETER THE GREAT. 131 • In consequence of this important success, Gen- eral Scherematof was made field-marshal, and re- ceived the order of St. Andrew, which was carried -to him by Menzikoff. Thanks were publicly re- turned to God for this victory, and salutes, and fire- works, and other rejoicings took place. It was on ■this occasion that Peter observed, " Well, we have at last beaten the Swedes, when we were two to one against them ; we shall, by-and-by, be able to face them man to man." On the 17th of July, the marshal was again engaged with the enemy, near the village of Humolowa, where he attacked them in front and in flank, " and," says the Tzar, "with the assistance of God, we compelled them to fly from the field of battle ; having not only retaken the artillery, the colours, and (the equipage, which they had taken from us, but 1 also killed so many of them that the few remains of the cavalry were obliged to fly towards the city of Pernow. The marshal having left behind the infantry, pursued them with the regiments of dra- goons ; he overtook them a few miles from the city, and routed them afresh. On this occasion we took fifteen pieces of cannon, and sixteen colours, and a great number of prisoners. Our loss was ten offi- cers, and about four hundred soldiers killed."* After this second decisive action, Marshal Schere- matof continued his march, driving from their posts the small parties of Swedes, and laying the whole country under contribution, till he arrived before Marienburgh, on the confines of Livonia and Ingria. This small town is situated on a lake, which it was necessary to cross on floating bridges, to enable the besiegers to take it by assault ; but the enemy agreed to capitulate, on condition of letting the inhabitants leave the place, which was granted ; and the major commanding, with two captains, came to the canap * Journal de Pierre le Grand, 132 MEMOIR OF to give up the place, according to capitulation. In the mean time, a Captain Woolf, and an ensign of artillery, the latter dragging his wife by force, en* tered the powder magazine and set fire to it, by which numbers, both of Russians and Swedes, were blown into the air. In consequence of this, the Whole of the inhabitants, being very few, were made prisoners, and the town was utterly destroyed. Among the prisoners that were thus taken cap- tive was one so intimately connected with the future fortunes of the Tzar — one to whom he was so much indebted for his health and peace of mind, and, probably, for his life and throne, as to have en* titled her to that esteem and gratitude which he owned, and never ceased to feel, to the end of his life. The officer before whom the prisoners of waf were to file off was General Bauer, a man of great mildness and humanity, who had risen from the ranks to his present station. He observed among the prisoners who passed before him a very young girl, with tears streaming down her cheeks, and apparently in the greatest distress. There was something in her countenance and manner which made so strong an impression upon him as to ere-* ate a desire to know her history ; and, with this view, he ordered her to be taken care of till he had time to question her. Her modest deportment, her" great diffidence, and her whole demeanour pleased him. He assured her she had nothing to fear, as he would take care she should be well treated. Her story was simply this : — She was born at Ringen, a small village on the banks of a lake near Dorpt, in Livonia. Her mother had been a poor woman, supported chiefly by Count Rosen, an officer in the Swedish service, the owner of the village ; but she had lost her mother when she was three years old, and the count having died about the same time, she could give no further account of what happened, except that she was taken into the house of the PETER THE GREAT. 133 clerk of the village. This parish clerk kept a school, arid intended to instruct her with the rest of the children ; but Doctor Gluck, the Lutheran minister of Marienburgh, happening one day to come to the village, and observing the child, took a great fancy to her, and on learning her history, asked the clerk, who was but a poor man, if he had any objection to part with her. In short, he took her home with him, and treated her like one of his own young family. Here she made herself useful, and soon became a great favourite. She employed herself in the usual kind of work required in a family. At first she knew no other language than Livonian, which is a dialect of the Sclavonian, but at M. Gluck's she learned the German, of which she very soon became a perfect mistress. As Martha, for so it appears Catharine was then called, advanced in years, her beauty attracted many admirers ; and one in particular, a Livonian sergeant in the Swedish army, fell passionately in love with her; but, though the attachment was mutual, she refused to marry him unless he obtained the consent of M. Gluck. This worthy man, whose circumstances were but moderate, thought he could not do better, either for the young woman or for himself, than to agree to the sergeant's prppo- sal, more especially as his family was known to be respectable, as he had a small property of his own, and was in a fair way towards preferment, being a sober and steady man, and a favourite in his regi- ment. The marriage was performed by M. Gluck, and the following day Marienburgh surrendered, as we have seen, to the Russians. It was when in extreme grief for the loss of her husband, who, as he was never heard of afterward, must be sup- posed to have perished on that day, that General Bauer saw her : he was moved with compassion, and at the same time, no doubt, with a stronger feeling; and* smitten with her beauty, took her M 134 MEMOIR OF to his house, where he appointed her to super-* intend his domestic affairs ; and in a little time it was supposed, though the general seems never to have admitted it, that she became his mistress. This, however, is by no means improbable. Bauer was an unmarried man, and there are trials and situations which the most exalted virtue may find it difficult to resist. Be that as it may, M. Wurmb, who was tutor in M. Gluck's family, assured M. Weber, the Hanoverian minister at Petersburg, that during her residence at Marienburgh she was a pattern of virtue and good conduct ; and while with the general, she was greatly beloved by all his domestics, over whom she was placed. One day Menzikoff happened to call at the general's house, and seeing Martha, was struck with her beauty and manner, and, having learned her history, asked the general if he would part with her, as he was very much in want of such a person to superintend the female part of his estab- lishment. The general would willingly have re- fused ; but as he was indebted for his rise in some manner to the prince, and owed him, on that account, a debt of gratitude, he called the young woman be- fore them, and asked her if she had any objection to enter the service of Prince Menzikoff, who would have it in his power to be of more use to her than he could possibly be, adding that he had too much re- gard for her future welfare to stand in the way of what was likely to lead to her advantage. Martha made a profound courtesy, and retired without speaking a word, and the next day saw her in the palace of Menzikoff. There can be little doubt in what capacity she lived with this splendid libertine,* with whom she continued till the year 1704, when * Gordon, who is not, however, good authority on this point, being then a prisoner at Stockholm, says that Menzikoff took her home and presented her to his princess. He also mistakes Scherematof for Bauer, and Marienburgh for Dorpt, PETER THE GREAT. 135 in the seventeenth year of her age, she became the mistress of Peter, and won so much upon his affec- tions, that he first privately, and afterward publicly, married her. Such was the rise of this extraordinary woman, who, after the death of Peter, succeeded to the throne of Russia. " There have been instances," says Voltaire, " before this, of private persons being- raised to the throne ; nothing was more com- mon in Russia, and in all the Asiatic kingdoms, than marriages between sovereigns and their sub- jects ; but that a poor stranger, who had been dis- covered amid the ruins of a plundered town, should become the absolute sovereign of that very empire into which she was led captive, is an incident which fortune and merit have never before pro- duced in the annals of the world." The arms of the Tzar, in the course of this cam- paign of 1702, were equally successful in Ingria as in Livonia. His galleys on the lake Ladoga drove those of the Swedes to take shelter on the opposite side of the lake. From the lower extremity of this fine sheet of water issues the river Neva, whose branches, now flowing through the noble city of Petersburg, which then had no existence, reunite and are discharged into the Baltic. The importance of such a communication could not pass unobserved by the Tzar. Near the exit of this river, on an island of the lake, was situated the strong fortified town of Rotteburgh, which Peter was determined to wrest, if possible, from the Swedes ; and for this purpose the siege of it was ordered to be under- taken by the Field-marshal Scherematof. Peter himself, as captain of the Preobazinki's guards, with the princes Repnin, Galitzin, and Menzikoff, the last then only a lieutenant, was present at the siege, which lasted from the 18th September to the 12th October, when three several breaches being made, the place was carried by assault. A prodigious 136 MEMOIR OF quantity of stores and ammunition fell into the hands of the Russians. " The same day," says the Tzar, " the marshal and the generals went into the town, after returning thanks to God; and havimg fired three volleys of cannon and musketry, they changed the name of the fortress, and gave it that of Schlusselbourg:"* "because," he adds, " it is by this key^ that the gates of the enemy's country are opened to us, and this name, by the grace of God, is effectually secured to it." Honours, and promotions, and rewards were largely distributed. MenzikofT, lieutenant of bom- bardiers, was appointed governor of Schlusselbourg. Prince Galitzin, lieutenant-colonel of the guards, was promoted to the rank of colonel ; the rest of the officers were gratified in one way or another, mostly with gold medals ; and rewards were also distributed to all the common soldiers ; but Peter himself took no promotion, though he had been captain of a storming party, and actually mounted one of the breaches. On the 6th December he made his triumphal entry into Moscow, and the prisoners, their colours, their cannon, and twenty wagon-loads of ammunition and stores, taken from the enemy, were marched in the procession, pass- ing through three triumphal arches. His majesty, on entering the city, was harangued by the clergy and the chief authorities, and greeted with the dis- charge of artillery and the ringing of bells ; and the day was celebrated with every demonstration of joy. The Tzar himself was known to have no taste for these kind of exhibitions, but he thought them necessary, not only to inspire his new troops with a noble emulation, but also to giv«e confidence by his successes to his subjects, — a large portion of whom, judging from former reverses, were avers© %0 the war in which he had involved the country, v * i e. Key-town* PETER THE GREAT. 137 In the course of this year the Patriarch Adrian died ; and as these dignitaries of the church had, at all times, not only interfered with the temporal concerns of the Tzars, but assumed a superior and independent authority, and even arrogated to them- selves the power of life and death, Peter determined to abolish the office altogether, letting it to be under- stood that he was to be considered as the head of the church ; having profited, perhaps, by the lessons he received from Bishop Burnet. At the same time he appointed the metropolitan of Rezan to take upon himself the chief administration of ecclesias- tical affairs, until a regular synod should be estab- lished, which, however, did not take place till the year 1721. At that synod, when Peter was pre- siding, a petition was read from some of the supe- rior clergy, which contained the names of several members of the synod, praying him to appoint a patriarch. The secretary having finished the read- ing, Peter rose up, struck his breast with great vio- lence, and called out vehemently, " Here is your patriarch," and immediately left the meeting. The Tzar's private secretary, who was present, told Staehlin that Peter smote his breast with one hand, and drew his hanger with the other, and striking the table with the flat of it, called out, " Here is your patriarch."* It was not consistent with the character of Peter to pay that homage to any one which, in his estima- tion, was due only to God and St. Nicholas ; to sub- mit to walk on foot, in a procession, leading by the bridle the horse or the ass on which an insolent and arrogant priest was seated ; or to suffer any indi- vidual, except himself, to pronounce sentence of death, or inflict the punishment of the rack or the wheel, as was done, and without appeal, by the * Staehlin : authority Great-chancellor Bestonchef and Secretary Tcherkassof. M 2 138 MEMOIR OF ecclesiastical tribunal. The monks and the priests were of course dissatisfied with the loss of the patriarch. They libelled the Tzar, and ridiculed his innovations through the very press which he had himself been the means of introducing. One priest declared him to be antichrist, as no evil being of less power could have dared to abolish the holy office ; but another contended that the Tzar could not be antichrist, because the number 666 was not in his name, neither had he the sign of the beast. Peter, as it would appear, paid very little attention to these idle disputes; though Voltaire, in his history of Charles the Twelfth, says, " the author of the libel was racked on the wheel, and the respondent made bishop of Rezan." Abating the displeasure which the clergy felt at the abolition of the office of patriarch, the Tzar omitted nothing, during his short stay at Moscow, that he conceived might afford amusement to the people, and keep them in good-humour; rightly judg- ing this to be the readiest way to facilitate the pro- gress of his new regulations. He ventured, how- ever, on a bold experiment. By making their old customs appear ridiculous, he hoped to induce his subjects to think lightly of their loss. With this view, he gave a grand entertainment, at which all the guests were ordered to be dressed in the ancient costume of Muscovy. At the same time one of his fools was to be married, by which he would have an opportunity of exhibiting to the guests how very absurd the ancient customs were on such occasions ; one of which forbade any fire being lighted on a wedding-day, even in the depth of winter, which it now was, the warmth of the affection of the new- married couple being thought sufficient without any other fuel. He prohibited the use of wine to his guests, and made them drink mead and brandy; tell- ing them, in a jocular manner, " Your ancestors did so j and surely ancient customs are always the best PETER THE GREAT. 139 to be observed." The report of this entertainment, being spread over Moscow, gave great amusement to the people, who observed to one another, what a comical man their Tzar was. Since Peter's return from his travels, he had not only become much more social, but had lost his for- mer shyness and dislike to mix in large societies ; he now visited, in a familiar way, the most respect- able merchants' families, and explained to them his views for improving the trade of the country. One day, when dining with a foreign merchant, he was so much taken with the beauty and manners of his daughter, that he made proposals to the father that she should live at his court, on what terms is not mentioned. The story is romantic, but the truth of it well vouched. This virtuous young lady rejected, with indignation, the offer; but, dreading what might be the effect of a refusal on the all-powerful autocrat, she took the resolution of leaving Moscow that very night, without communicating her design even to her parents. Having provided herself with a little money, she repaired on foot to a small vil- lage, several miles off, where her old nurse lived, with her husband and their daughter — told her story, and entreated them to conceal her from any pursuit that might be made. There was a wood near the village, into which she insisted on proceeding that very night. The husband being a wood-cutter by trade, conducted her to a little dry island in the midst of a morass, where he constructed a log-hut for her habitation, and here she remained for more than twelve months, her nurse providing little ne- cessaries for her support, which were carefully con- veyed to her by one of the three, and either the mother or the daughter attending her by night. The Tzar, calling at the house of the merchant the next day, and learning what had happened, flew into a great rage, and threatened him with the effect of his utmost displeasure, if his daughter was not im- 140 MEMOIR OF mediately produced. Both father and mother pro- tested most solemnly, with tears of grief for the loss of their child, that they were alike ignorant as innocent of what had occurred, and expressed their fears, as nothing belonging to her was missing, that some dreadful disaster had befallen her. The Tzar was at length satisfied ; rewards were publicly ad- vertised for her recovery, but to no purpose ; and the parents and relations went into mourning, con- sidering she was no more. It happened that a colonel in the army was shoot- ing in the wood where the young lady was concealed, and, following his game, came upon the hut, and saw a young and beautiful girl in a peasant's dress. He soon discovered by her conversation that she was not the person she appeared to be, and a suspicion crossed his mind that she might be the lost lady, whose disappearance had made so great a noise. In the utmost confusion and distress, she entreated him, on her knees, not to betray her. He told her that all danger was now past, the Tzar was then other- wise engaged, and that she might with safety dis- cover herself, at least, to her parents. It will read- ily be supposed that an interesting adventure of this kind, between two young persons, laid the seeds of a mutual attachment. The colonel proceeded to make the happy discovery to her friends, who, how- ever, had still their apprehensions of the Tzar's anger. The colonel proposed to lay the whole story before Catharine, whose influence over Peter was already known ; he waited on her, who agreed to introduce him, the following morning, to the Tzar ; and, in the mean time, she put him in possession of the young lady's unfortunate case, and of the suffer- ings she must have undergone in so dismal a place. The Tzar showed a great deal of contrition, and de- clared himself ready to make all the amends in his power. Catharine, who probably was better ac- quainted with human nature than the Tzar, suggested PETER THE GREAT. 141 that the best amends his majesty could make was to give the lady a handsome fortune, and the colonel for a husband. Peter at once agreed, and took upon himself the direction and expense of the marriage, and gave away the bride, saying, he was happy to present him with one of the most virtuous of women ; he also made the colonel a present, besides settling on her a pension of three thousand rubles a year. Captain Bruce says, " / had this her story from her own month."* It is for this reason, namely, that of its being well authenticated, and as conveying a trait of Peter's character, that it is here introduced. Bruce also gives an account of another disappointment sus- tained by the Tzar, in the loss of a young lady, of whom he became enamoured. It happened soon after his divorce from Atokesa. " One Miss Mons," he says, " a very beautiful young lady, born at Mos- cow of foreign parents, was much in favour with the Tzar ; but when he was abroad, Mr. Keyserling, then residing at Moscow as envoy from the King of Prussia, paid his addresses to and married her. When the Tzar returned, he was so much offended at Keyserling, that he ordered him to leave Mos- cow, which occasioned his immediate recall by the king his master, who sent another in his room." Bruce has probably mistaken the situation of Made- moiselle Mons, or Moens, whose intimacy with the Tzar was of a very different description. She was avowedly his mistress, and is mentioned as such by various authors, and, among others, by an English lady, wife of the resident at Moscow in the time of Peter the Great. Mrs. Vigors, in one of her letters to a friend in England, thus relates the circumstance which dissolved the connexion. " 1 have been visited by several of Mr. W 'sf * Mem. of P. H. Bruce, Esq. t Mr. Ward, her former husband. 142 MEMOIR OF old acquaintance, one of whom was a courtier in your hero's time. She is a sensible woman, and entertains me with many of his private adventures. The following one I will relate, though long, as I think it shows he was not so savage as some have represented him. He had a violent passion for an officer's daughter, named Munce (Moens), and used more assiduous means to gain her than monarchs generally are forced to ; at last she yielded, and be- came his public mistress, and for many years he loved her with a fondness rarely found. One fatal day he went to see a castle he had built in the sea, attended by his own and foreign ministers. At their return, the Polish minister, by some accident, fell over the drawbridge and was drowned, notwith- standing all endeavours to save him. The emperor ordered all the papers in his pockets to be taken out and sealed up, before all the company. On search- ing his pockets, a picture dropped, which the empe- ror took up, and judge his surprise when he found it was the portrait of the lady. In a sudden gust of passion he tore open some of the papers, and found several letters from her to the deceased in the tenderest style. He left the company that in- stant, came alone to the apartment of my informant, and ordered her to send for the lady thither : when she entered, he locked the door on them three, and asked her how she came to write to such a person 1 She denied she had : he then produced the picture and letters, and when he told her of his death, she burst into tears, while he reproached her with in- gratitude in such a storm of passion, that my author expected to see her murdered ; but on a sudden, he also melted into tears, and said he forgave her, since he so severely felt how impossible it was to conquer inclination; 'for,' he added, 'notwithstanding you have returned my fondness with falsehood, I find I cannot hate you, though I do myself for the mean- ness of spirit I am guilty of ; but it would be quite PETER THE GREAT. 143 despicable in me to continue to live with yon; there- fore begone, while I can keep my passion within the bounds of humanity. You shall never want, but I will never see you more.' He kept his word, and soon after married her to one who had an employ- ment at a distance, and was always kind to them in point of fortune."* Mrs. Vigors is right. Peter was not such a " savage as some have represented him." From the silence of his biographers, it may be inferred that this w r as the last of his youthful indiscretions, as regards the female sex, for had more existed, they would have been blazoned forth in every variety of shape ; the whole course of his life being minutely watched by the foreign residents, their secretaries and clerks, and reported to their employers — ■ all his faults observed, Set in a note-book, learned and conned by rote." It seems, indeed, to have been the general belief, that his attachment to the fair sex was henceforward confined solely to Catharine; whose good conduct, affection, and unremitting attention fully entitled her to his undivided confidence, love, and esteem. * Letters from a lady who resided some years in Russia* 144 MEMOIR OF CHAPTER VII. Continued Successes over the Swedes— Peter lays the Founda- tion of St. Petersburg — His Saxon Ally deprived of the Crown of Poland— Takes Dorpt, and Narva, and Mittau — Augustus makes Peace with Charles— Disgraceful Conduct of the former — Seizure and inhuman Death of Patkul — Masterly Manoeuvre of Peter — Position of the Russian and Swedish Armies. The presence of the Tzar was soon deemed neces- sary on the north-eastern frontier of Sweden. He first hastened to Olonetz, where he had established a dock-yard, and a manufactory of small-arms. This place, situated on the eastern shore of Ladoga, was a spot of great importance for his future operations in that quarter. Near this lake, and not far from the Neva, was situated another important fortress, held by the Swedes, to which he laid siege both by land and water ; and it surrendered to Scherematof im- mediately after the capture of two Swedish vessels* that should have come to its relief, but which were both taken by the Tzar in person, who had assumed the command of the boats on the lake. On this occasion, as captain of bombardiers, he received the Order of St. Andrew as a reward for his gallant con- duct. In his journal he modestly observes, " On the 30th May, we returned thanks to God for this naval victory, being the first ; and, after this, those who had held commands on this service, namely, the cap- tain of bombardiers, and the Lieutenant Menzikoif, received the Order of St. Andrew, conferred on them by the Admiral Count de Golownin, the most ancient knight of that Order."* It was the great importance which the Tzar at* * Journal de Pierre le Grand, PETER THE GREAT. 145 tached to the expulsion of the enemy from the two shores of the Neva, and the occupation or destruc- tion of ail the Swedish posts which they held in Carelia and Ingria, that had hastened his departure from Moscow. In the mean time, Menzikoff had not been idle. Having proceeded to the mouth of the Neva, he obtained some success over the Swedish gun-boats that were hovering in that quarter ; at the same time Peter advanced against a Swedish fortress named Nianshantz, or, as he calls it, Kantzi, on the Carelian side of the Neva, near to the spot where Petersburg now stands. The Tzar, having made himself master of this fortress, called a council of war, in order to have its opinion, before he deter- mined whether they should strengthen the fortifica- tions of this new conquest, or look out for another position more spacious and less distant from the sea, the latter idea was adopted, and, after some days, they fixed upon a spot on an island near the mouth of the Neva, called Lust Eland, or Pleasure Island, where, on the 16th May, they laid the foundation of a new fortress. Here, in fact, the Neva divided itself into four or five branches, forming a flat delta of islands, covered with brush- wood and swamps, on which were a few miserable huts of some poor fisher- men. The fortress thus founded was named St. Petersburg ; and from this beginning has risen up, in the course of a hundred and thirty years, one of the most magnificent cities in the world. A few months after this, Menzikoff was sent down to the mouth of the river, to fix upon a spot on which to erect a fortress for the protection of the entrance. A low sandy island, close to that called Retusari, which commanded the deep and narrow channel of the Neva, appeared to him in every respect suitable for the purpose ; and his majesty, having examined and approved the position, named a day to go down and lay the foundation of a fort, which should com- mand and protect the channel, and to which he gave N 146 MEMOIR OF the name of Cronslot, and the town and buildings which subsequently arose on the adjacent island, and, indeed, the first fortress, received the name they now bear of Cronstadt. The model of the fortress was made by the Tzar himself, in wood, and he left MenzikofF to carry it into execution. He then re- turned to superintend the works carrying on at his projected new city of Petersburg, taking up his lodg- ing in a small wooden house, which he caused to be erected for himself, and which is still preserved by a surrounding wall, as a memorial of this extraor- dinary man. In erecting the fortress of Petersburg, he availed himself of the ruins of the works at Nianshantz, which served for the foundation stones. This citadel was situated nearly about the centre of the intended city, and occupied the spot which is now the Acad- emy of Sciences. The command of it was given to Vassali Demetrievitz, and hence it took, and still retains, the name of Vassali na Ostrof—" Vassali upon the island." The whole surrounding country was a morass, in which not a stone of any descrip tion could be found, — the people employed had little or no experience, — according to Captain Perry, the labourers were not furnished with the necessary tools, such as pick-axes, spades, shovels, planks, and the like : " Notwithstanding which," the same author observes, " the work went on with such expedition, that it was surprising to see the fortress raised within less than five months, though the earth, which is very scarce thereabouts, was, for the greater part, carried by the labourers in the skirts of their clothes, and in bags made of rags and old mats, the use of wheelbarrows being then unknown to them."* Un- der such untoward circumstances, in such a country, and amid such difficulties, it is indeed surprising that a town should have arisen, in the course of a pr M • Perry. PETER THE GREAT. 147 twelvemonth, said then to contain houses and huts, of one description or another, amounting to the number of thirty thousand.* Peter, however, was a man not to be diverted from his purpose by difficulties ; nor was he deterred from the attempt to make up, by sheer human labour, what might be wanting in skill and implements. For this purpose he collected together many thousand per- sons, from all parts of the empire, — Russians, Cos- sacks, Tartars, Calmucks, Finlanders, and Ingrians ; these people he employed in deepening the channels of the several branches, digging canals, and heaping up the earth, in order to raise the general level of the islands, which were so low as to be frequently overflowed. This severe labour, without shelter from the inclemency of the weather, in a climate of sixty degrees of latitude, with scanty fare of the worst kind, and frequently without any for a day or two together, caused such a mortality among them, that it is asserted not less than a hundred thousand men perished in the course of the first year. Though Peter, as has been seen, had no great affection for the priesthood, he always paid a high regard to religious duties, and constantly attended divine service, wherever he was resident and the means were afforded, without regarding what the particular tenets of the community were. One of the first buildings, after the citadel, was a church ; and he ordered a proper number of priests to be sent from Moscow, to perform the duties of their office. He directed, also, several merchants and tradespeople to repair to his new city, and exercise there their several trades and professions. The next public building erected, was a large hotel for the accommodation of the foreign ministers ; and, as Menzikoff undertook the management of the Tzar's public entertainments, a large house was * Mottley, Nestesuranoi. 148 MEMOIR OF among the first to be constructed, to enable him to receive his sovereign's guests. In the mean time, the officers and private individuals were engaged in erecting houses, shops, and warehouses, all of wood, so that Petersburg soon exhibited the appearance of a large and respectable town. Matters, however, did not go on smoothly. Those who had been forced to a residence among the swampy islands of the Neva, as well as the numer- ous workmen, who had suffered dreadfully from disease and privations of every kind, at length be- came clamorous, gave vent to their murmurings, and a general dissatisfaction manifested itself in a singular manner. Peter was absent in the neigh- bourhood of Ladoga, having left Count Golofkin to superintend the works. One day the people set off in crowds to the church. The count repaired thither, but the crowd was so dense that he was obliged to return. He was told that the image of the blessed Virgin had shed tears, to show the people her affliction for their sufferings, and at being obliged to remain and witness them in that inhospitable part of the country. With such an omen before their eyes, they stated their conviction that some dread- ful convulsion threatened the new establishment. Golofkin thought this story, ridiculous as it was, of sufficient importance to authorize him to send off an express for the Tzar, who made his appearance the following day; proceeded immediately to the church; summoned the people to attend ; and or- dered the priests to show him the miraculous signs exhibited by the holy Virgin. Having examined it attentively, and perceiving something oozing out of the eyes, he ordered one of the priests to take down the image ; when, stripping off the covering behind, he discovered a small cavity close to the eyes, in which was deposited a little oil, that gradually oozed out, and trickled down her cheeks ; and, having ex posed this piece of priestly imposture to the public, PETER THE GREAT. 149 he ordered the image to be taken to his house, tell- ing the people he meant to deposite it in his cabinet of curiosities.* Another account says, the heads of the saints were sometimes made hollow, to hold water, in which, when it was necessary to make them weep, two or three little fishes were put, whose motions caused the water to overflow through the eyes. It may well be supposed that the intention of building a second capital, and of forcing the inhabit- ants of the old one to migrate to the bleak regions of the north, met with great opposition from the boyars and superior classes ; and, in fact, nothing short of despotic authority could have established Petersburg as the new residence of the Tzars. But Peter, more enlightened than his subjects, was fully aware of the importance of the situation. As a modern writer justly observes, " The internal im- provement of the Russian empire, the great object of Peter's reign, was considerably advanced by ap- proaching the capital to the more civilized parts of Europe : by this means he drew the nobility from their rude magnificence and feudal dignity at Mos- cow, to a more immediate dependence on the sove- reign, to more polished manners, to a greater degree of social intercourse. Nor did any other cause, perhaps, so much tend to promote his plans for the civilization of his subjects, as the removal of the imperial seat from the inland provinces to the Gulf of Finland."f The Tzar had, evidently, and indeed he avowed it, Amsterdam in his eye, when he planned and marked out St. Petersburg. The wharves of the river, the canals, the bridges, the straight-lined streets planted with trees, were all after the Dutch model He had * Staehlin. Authority, M. Corruedon, Intendant of tha Court. i Coxe's Travels in Russia. N2 150 MEMOIR OP taken with him, from Voronitz and other places, several Dutch architects, ship-builders, masons, and artisans well versed in securing foundations on swampy ground, similar to that on which Amsterdam is built ; in short, the earliest part of the city, which stands on the Vassali Ostrof, is entirely after the Dutch taste ; and to a small island, on which vast quantities of timber are usually collected and stowed, he gave the name of New-Holland. Five months had scarcely elapsed from laying the first stone of St. Petersburg, when a report was brought to the Tzar that a large ship, under Dutch colours, was standing into the river. It may be sup- posed that this was a joyful piece of intelligence for the founder. It was nothing short of realizing the wish, nearest his heart, to open the Baltic fo* the nations of Europe to trade with his dominions ; it constituted them his neighbours ; and he at once anticipated the day when his ships would also float on his own waters, would beat the Swedish navy, and drive them from a sea on which they had long floated triumphant with undivided sway. When Peter was employed in building his fleet at Yoronitz, Patrick Gordon one day asked him, " Of what use do you expect all the vessels you are building to be, seeing you have no seaports ?.*' " My vessels shall make ports for themselves," replied Peter, in a de- termined tone ; a declaration which was now on the eve of being accomplished. No sooner was the communication made, than the Tzar, with his usual rapidity, set off to meet this welcome stranger. The skipper was invited to the house of Menzikoff ; he sat down at table ; and, to his great astonishment, found that he was placed next the Tzar, and had actually been served by him. But not less astonished and delighted was Peter, on learning that the ship belonged to, and had been freighted by, his old Zaandam friend with whom he had resided, Cornelius Calf. Permission was im- PETER THE GREAT. 151 mediately given to the skipper to land his cargo, consisting of salt, wine, and other articles of pro- visions, free of all duties. Nothing could be more acceptable to the inhabitants of the new city than this cargo, the whole of which was purchased by Peter, Menzikoff, and the several officers ; so that Auke Wibes, the skipper, made a most profitable ad- venture. On his departure he received a present of five hundred ducats, and each man of the crew one hundred rix-dollars, as a premium for the first ship that had entered the port of St. Petersburg. In the same year another Dutch ship arrived, with a cargo of hams, cheese, butter, gin, &c, and received the same premium ; and the third was given to an Eng- lish ship, which entered the port in the first year of the building of the city.* While Peter was thus busily employed in creating a new capital, the King of Sweden was making his way with the diet of Poland, and endeavouring to prevail on them to dethrone Augustus. He was fully aware of the Tzar's proceedings, and of the rapid progress that he was making in building a city on the banks of the Neva. But when this was once mentioned to Charles, he is reported to have said, " Let him amuse himself as he thinks fit in building his city ; I shall soon find time to take it from him, and to put his wooden houses into a blaze." As to Augustus, he had lost entirely the affections of the Poles ; so that the cardinal-primate, who had long flattered and deceived him, at last threw off the mask, and declared, at an assembly held at Warsaw, the 14th of February, 1704, that Augustus, Elector of Saxony, was incapable of any longer wearing the crown of Poland. It was, therefore, agreed that the throne was vacant, and that a new election must be made. The Tzar addressed an indignant letter to the cardinal-primate, and to the " most illus- * Scheltema's Russia and Netherlands. 152 MEMOIR OF trious, generous, and magnificent lords," which, however, produced no effect on the confederated nobility. They proceeded to elect Prince James Sobieski, recommended by the King of Sweden ; but intelli- gence was just then brought from his brother Alex- ander, stating, that, as his brothers James and Con- stantine were hunting near Breslaw, a party of about thirty horse, sent by Augustus for the purpose had seized and forcibly carried them off to Leipsic where they were kept in close confinement. Charles then proposed Alexander for the crown, which his father had worn before him, but he absolutely refused to accept it while his elder brother was alive. The King of Sweden next named Stanislaus Lescinsky, a young nobleman endowed with great virtues and accomplishments, who was then, by the voice of the diet, declared King of Poland and Grand-duke of Lithuania. Augustus, having heard of the election of Stanis- laus, assembled a council at Sendomir, and there caused him to be declared a rebel and a traitor. But while the Elector of Saxony was abusing his suc- cessful rival, in idle declamations, Charles was everywhere routing his Saxon troops. Thus cir- cumstanced, the Tzar had not much hope of assist- ance from the deposed monarch. He himself was, however, growing every day more formidable ; his troops were now in a high state of discipline, and fit to meet the Swedes man to man ; his officers were well trained in their military duties ; he had several fine regiments of cavalry, good engineers, and a serviceable artillery; and such was now the strength of his army, that, in virtue of a treaty he had made with Augustus, he was able to send him a reinforce- ment of twelve thousand men into Lithuania, to support him in that province, which had, as yet, de- clared for neither party. In the mean time the Tzar disposed his forces, in the spring of 1704, into two PETER THE GREAT. 153 divisions : the one, under Field-marshal Scherema- tof, he destined to lay siege to Dorpt ; the other, under his immediate orders, to proceed to the attack of Narva, where he had formerly sustained so de- structive a defeat. To besiege Dorpt, it was necessary to be master of the navigation of the lake Peipus. For this pur- pose, a flotilla was placed at the mouth of the Em- bach, and the infantry, with some field-pieces, lined the banks. The Swedish squadron advanced down the river, to attack the Russian flotilla ; a battle en- sued, the result of which was the capture or destruc- tion of all the Swedish vessels. The vessel of the commander, Loscher, was blown up, and the victory was so complete, that the Russians sat down, with- out molestation, before Dorpt. The brave com- mandant of this place held out for more than six weeks, when a breach was made, and one thousand men were prepared for the assault. A great slaugh- ter ensued ; and the commandant, to prevent the remainder of the garrison being put to the sword, proposed, and was granted, an honourable capitula- tion. Though Peter had assisted in the siege of this place, and was constantly passing to and from Narva, the siege of the latter was under his immediate di- rection, and matters were now ready for an assault. It was necessary, in the first place, to get possession of three bastions, which bore the renowned names of victory, honour, and glory. The Tzar carried all three, with sword in hand; the besiegers rushed forward into the town, and fell immediately to plun- der. The most horrid barbarities ensued, and all those outrages against decency and humanity which are but too common on the sacking of a town, and which both Russians and Swedes were in the habit of practising to the greatest excess, were committed in this unfortunate place. But Peter, barbarian as he has been supposed, on seeing his men intent on slaughter and pillage, ran from place to place to stay 154 MEMOIR OF their fury, rescuing women and children from the hands of a savage soldiery, and slaying, without compunction, several of the barbarous brutes who would not listen to his orders. He then proceeded to the Hotel de Ville, where great numbers of the un- fortunate citizens had taken refuge ; he there threw down his sword, reeking with blood, upon the table, saying, " My sword is not stained with the blood of the inhabitants of this city, but with that of my own soldiers, which I have not hesitated to spill to save your lives." Thus, with the acquisition of Dorpt and Narva, the year 1704 saw Peter in possession of all Ingria, the government of which he conferred on his fa- vourite Menzikoff, creating him, at the same time, a prince of the empire and major-general in the army. " The pride and prejudice of other coun- tries," says Voltaire, " might find fault with a sove- reign for raising a pastry-cook's boy to the post of general, and governor, and to princely dignity ; but Peter had accustomed his subjects not to be sur- prised at seeing him prefer men of abilities to per- sons who had nothing to recommend them but their high birth." Menzikoff had, unquestionably, very splendid abilities, though Gordon will not allow of his military talent. While in the Tzar's family he had made himself perfect in several languages ; he became an officer, at least, of considerable talent, and was of great assistance to his master both in the cabinet and the field; and, by his insinuating manners and lively good-humour, he gained over a great many of the nobles, who for some time had shown a decided hostility both to him and to the in- novations of his master. Such a man was deemed most fit to govern and protect the important prov- ince, which opened to Russia a lucrative commerce, and speedy intercourse with the rest of Europe. Some few demonstrations had been made, in the course of the year, on the part of the Swedes, to PETER THE GREAT. 155 interrupt the operations on the Neva, but they all failed. The only formidable attempt occurred when Peter was in Poland, in June, 1705. A Swedish i squadron of twenty-two ships of war, with a num- ber of transports, landed a numerous body of men on the island of Kitin, when the Russian troops, who had laid themselves down flat on the ground, sud- denly started up, and falling on the Swedes un- awares, obliged them to retreat, in the utmost confu- sion, to their ships, abandoning their dead, and leav- ing behind three hundred prisoners. Peter, therefore, deeming himself secure in this quarter directed a more particular attention to the proceedings of Charles XII. in Poland. He first made an offer to the dethroned king Augustus, to supply him with a fresh body of troops, in addition to the twelve thousand men which he had already sent him ; and General Repnin was accordingly or- dered to march from the frontiers of Lithuania with six thousand horse and six thousand foot. This being done, after first paying a visit to Voronitz, to be present at the launching of the first ship of eighty guns, built from a draught of his own, Peter hastened to join the confederated army in Poland, in order to open the first campaign of the year 1705, in support of his old ally Augustus. He proceeded to Vilna, in Lithuania, while Marshal Scherematof was ad- vancing upon Mittau, the capital of Courland. In his way he fell in with the Swedish general Lewen- haupt, at a place called Gemauers, where an obsti- nate battle was fought, in which the Russians were defeated, with the loss of five to six thousand men, and the field-marshal was wounded ; but the victory was dearly purchased by the Swedes, who had two generals and several other officers killed, and two thousand men left on the field. Lewenhaupt, in his report of this battle to the King of Sweden, observes, that the Russians had throughout behaved like brave soldiers. 156 MEMOIR OF Notwithstanding this check, Peter ordered his army to march into Courland. General Repnin laid siege to the citadel of Mittau, after making himself master of the town ; and, after a short resistance, it surrendered by capitulation; but while this was carrying into execution, it was discovered by Rep- nin that the Swedes had pillaged the palace and ar- chives of the dukes of Courland, and had even en- tered the vaults, where their dead were deposited, to rob their bodies of certain jewels which they had on their necks and fingers. To the honour of the Rus- sian soldiers appointed to guard the vaults of the castle, on finding the bodies dragged from the tombs, and stripped of their ornaments, they refused to take charge until a Swedish colonel had examined the place, and given them a certificate that his own countrymen had committed this sacrilege.* The Tzar being now in possession of the greatest part of Courland, and Charles too much occupied in crowning the successor of the king whom he had been the means of dethroning, his majesty deter- mined to pass the remainder of the winter at Mos- cow, in order, by his presence, to give vigour to his new regulations for the encouragement of his sub- jects in the arts and sciences. Scarcely had the year 1706 commenced, when in- telligence was brought to Moscow that Charles XII. was advancing towards Grodno, in order to attack the Russian and Saxon forces ; and that Augustus had been obliged to retire precipitately towards Saxony, with four regiments of Russian dragoons. The Tzar immediately set out to his relief, but found ' all the avenues to Grodno occupied by the Swedish troops, and his own dispersed. Peter was not to be dispirited by a check of this kind : he immediately set about collecting his scattered forces ; and Gen- * Nestesuranoi. Voltaire. Mottley. Journal de Pierre 1© Grand. PETER THE GREAT. 157 eral Schullemberg, in whom Augustus had placed his last hopes, was in full march, with twelve thou- sand Saxons and six thousand Russians, a part of those which the Tzar had furnished to the deposed sovereign. The Swedish Field-marshal Renschild interrupted his march with a body of ten thousand Swedes. The two armies met near the little town of Frauenstadt; a battle ensued, and the Saxons were defeated with great slaughter; a few battalions only escaped, and almost every man was wounded. The Tzar, in his manifesto, says that many of his troops, both Russians and Cossacks, were slaugh- tered in cold blood, three days after the battle. It is stated by Voltaire, in his History of Charles XII., and repeated in that of Peter I., that there was a French regiment in the Saxon army, who had been taken prisoners in the celebrated battle of Rochstedt, and who had the care of the artillery; that they, dissatisfied with their Saxon masters, and admirers of the heroism of Charles XII., laid down their arms as soon as they saw the enemy. The Journal of Peter does not mention this circumstance ; he merely states that the cavalry attacked the enemy with great impetuosity, and drove the infantry into a wood, but that the artillery had not been brought up. Voltaire further states, on the authority of King Stanislaus himself, that such were the barbarous cruelties practised by officers of both armies, that in one of the skirmishes, which frequently happened in Poland, a Russian officer, who had been his friend, came, after the defeat of the corps under his com- mand, to place himself under his protection; and that Steinbok, the Swedish general, shot him dead with a pistol, while he held him in his arms. Augustus had got together an army of twenty thousand men, with which he was prevailed on by General Patkul, ambassador from the Tzar, to march into Poland to join the forces of Peter. These two sovereigns met a second time at Grodno, where Au- O 158 MEMOIR OF gustus instituted the order of the White Eagle, with which he invested the Tzar, and some of the Rus- sian generals, as well as several of the grandees of Poland ; and to complete the farce, as M. Fonte- nelle is pleased to call it, he gave the commission of colonel to the Tzar and Menzikoff. Ridiculous as it might appear, the farce had both point and plot in it. In fact, it was the renovation of an ancient Polish order, created many centuries ago, and the object of restoring it was to conciliate the Polish prelates and nobles, and by their means to regain the crown, which Peter never despaired of, and at last accomplished for his wavering ally. Peter, being suddenly called away to quell a re- bellion, that had broken out in Astracan, left his army, amounting to twenty thousand men, with his faithful ally, commanded by Menzikoff. Charles XII. was at this time overrunning Saxony, and had proceeded to the very heart of the electorate of Au- gustus. Whether it was the fear that Charles would ruin his country, or admiration of his glorious ca- reer, like that of the French regiment which laid down their arms, or some jealousy created by the grandees of Lithuania, or the operation of all these, Augustus determined to seek for peace, cost what it might; and for this purpose sent Imhoff and Pfingsten, secretly and confidentially, with full powers, to treat with Charles. At the same time, he sent an order for the arrest of Patkul, who was then at Dresden, as the Tzar's ambassador, and threw him into prison. The two plenipotentiaries went privately by night to the camp of Charles XII. at Alt-Ranstadt, and delivered their credentials to him ; he desired them to wait, retired to his closet, and in a short time returned with a paper containing four articles, in which it was declared in writing that he would not make the least alteration. First, That King Augustus renounce for ever the crown of Po- land, and that lie acknowledge Stanislaus as lawful PETER THE GREAT* 159 king. Second, That he renounce all treaties he may- have made with the Tzar of Muscovy. Third, That he send back immediately the two Sobieskis and all the Swedish prisoners. Fourth, That all Swedish deserters, and especially John Patkul, be delivered up. Just at this moment, and while the plenipoten- tiaries were negotiating this shameful treaty at Alt- Ranstadt, Prince Menzikoff, generalissimo of the Russian army, joined the forces of Augustus, near Calishe, with thirty thousand men. The deposed monarch was in the utmost state of confusion, and under dreadful apprehension lest Menzikoff should discover his defection ; but what added greatly to his chagrin was the sudden appearance of ten thou- sand Swedes under the command of General Meyer- feldt. What was Augustus to do in this awkward dilemma in which he was thus placed? — He did the very thing that he ought not to have done — he sent a confidential officer to acquaint Meyerfeldt with the negotiation that was going on ; but that general, as might have been foreseen, treated the message with contempt, as " a weak invention of the enemy ;" and immediately offered battle, which, whether won or lost, would be alike fatal to Augustus. The Rus- sians obtained a complete victory ; the Swedes hav- ing lost about three thousand men killed, and Meyer- feldt, and several officers of distinction, and four thousand men taken prisoners. The victors entered Warsaw in triumph, and there Pfingsten presented Augustus with the treaty of peace he had just con- cluded, which deprived him for ever of his crown. Augustus had previously written, from the field of battle, a letter to his plenipotentiaries, more dis- graceful even than the treaty itself, which was in- tended to be shown to Charles, and in which he begged pardon for having obtained a victory, pro- testing that the battle was fought against his will ; that the Russians had obliged him to it ; that he had 160 MEMOIR OF intended to abandon Menzikoff; that Meyerfeldt ought to have beaten him, had he made a proper use of the opportunity ; that he would deliver up all the Swedish prisoners, or break with the Russians, in short, that he would give the King of Sweden all proper satisfaction, for having dared to beat his troops.* But the humiliation of Augustus was not yet com- plete. Leaving Menzikoff with the victorious army, he proceeded to Saxony, to place himself at the dis- cretion of the Swedish king. Charles was not gifted with the milk of human kindness ; the great fea- tures of his character were obstinacy, severity, and cruelty. Augustus found him determined to exact compliance with every article of the treaty ; and as a further punishment for having dared to give battle to his general at Calishe, he forced upon him the ungrateful and humiliating task of writing a con- gratulatory letter to Stanislaus, on his accession to the crown of Poland. Nor was this all ; he was peremptorily ordered to give up the unfortunate Pat- kul to the vengeance of the King of Sweden. Never was a sovereign prince placed in a more embarrass- ing situation, owing to his vacillating conduct ; for while Charles was heaping upon him all manner of indignities, the Tzar was loading him with bitter reproaches, and loudly demanded from him the res- toration of his ambassador ; but Charles threatened what terrible things he would do, if he was not de- livered up to him according to the treaty of Alt- Ranstadt. The melancholy story of this unfortunate Livo- nian has left a stain on the character of Charles XII. that must for ever cast a cloud over his stern virtues and heroic actions. Charles XL had exercised great severity against, and abridged many of the privileges of the Livonians. Patkul, with six of * * Voltaire. PETER THE GREAT. 161 ftis countrymen, was deputed by the nobility of Livonia to carry their grievances to the king, whom he addressed with great force and eloquence. Charles, so far from being displeased, laid his hand on Patkui's shoulder, and told him, " He had spoken for his country like a brave man, and that he loved him for it ;" yet, within a few days after this, the same Charles read his public accusation as a traitor. Patkul made his escape to Augustus, from whose service he passed into that of the Tzar, till he was thrown into confinement in the castle of Konigstein. It is said that, on the threats of Peter, Augustus, in order to pacify the Tzar and evade the wrath of Charles, secretly consented to the prisoner's escape, but that Patkul refused to pay to the mercenary governor the sum he demanded for his liberty, rely- ing on the law of nations, and, as he supposed, the friendly intentions of Augustus. In the meantime a party of Swedes came up, and forced the victim out of the hands of his jailer. He was carried to head-quarters at Alt-Ranstadt, and kept in chains for three months before his execution. It is said that Charles wrote out his sentence with his own hand, which was, to be broken alive on the wheel and quartered. He was at that time under an engagement of marriage to a Saxon lady of great beauty, birth, and merit : he desired the chaplain to wait on her, comfort her, and assure her that he died full of the tenderest love and affection for her. When led to* the place of execution, a Swedish offi- cer read aloud from a paper as follows : — " This is to declare that the express order of his majesty, our most merciful lord, is, that this man, who is a traitor to his country, be broke upon the wheel and quar- tered, for the reparation of his crimes, and for an example to others ; that every one may take care of treason, and faithfully serve his king." At the words, " most merciful lord," Patkul cried out, " What mercy I" — and at those of " traitor to his 02 162 MEMOIR OF country," " Alas !" he said, " I have served it too well." He received sixteen blows, and endured a long and dreadful torture. Thus died the unhappy John Renold Patkul, ambassador and general of the Tzar of Russia.* Voltaire's observations on this murder are not more forcible than just. " There is not a civilian," he says, " in Europe, nay, there is not a slave, but must shudder with horror at this barbarous act of in- justice. The first crime of this unfortunate man was his having made an humble representation of the rights and privileges of his country, at the head of six Livonian gentlemen, who had been deputed by the whole state ; he was condemned for fulfilling the first of duties, that of serving his country according to her laws. So unjust a sentence fully restored him to aright which all mankind derive from nature, that of choosing his country. As he was the ambassador of one of the greatest monarchs in the whole world, his person ought to have been sacred. The laws of nature and nations were violated on this occasion, by the law of the longest sword. The splendour of high achievements used formerly to cover such cruelties; but now they are an indelible stain to military glory, "f The Tzar was highly incensed at this barbarous outrage on the part of the King of Sweden. He wrote letters to several of the potentates of Europe, complaining of the cowardice and treachery, as he deemed it to be, of his ally Augustus, and of the vio- lation of the law of nations by Charles XII. Some of his counsellors proposed to him, while in this state of exasperation, that he should retaliate on the Swedish officers who were prisoners at Moscow ; but Peter rebuked them severely for such a sugges- tion. If Charles was so dead to the feelings of hu- ♦Harleian Miscellany. Voltaire. John Mottley, &c» t Voltaire. PKTER THE GREAT. 163 manity, and to his own honour and reputation, that nothing but glutting his revenge in blood would satisfy him, Peter, with all his severity and irascible temper, was seldom, if ever, actuated in his punish- ments by feelings of that character. The revenge which he resolved to take, on the present occasion, was of a nobler and more honourable nature. He determined to follow up, from that moment, the project agreed upon at Grodno by Augustus and him- self— to use every means in his power to defeat the views of Charles on Poland, by driving Stanislaus from the throne. He held a conference at Zolkeaw, where Prince Menzikoff had taken up his quarters, with several of the Polish grandees, who came there to pay their court to him, before they met at a gene- ral assembly to be held at Leopol ; and the gracious manner in which he received them entirely gained him their affection. In the first assembly, composed of the primate, several bishops, palatines, and senators, it was re- solved to renew the confederation of Sendomir, — and the grand question was, " Whether they had any king or not ?" which, passing in the negative, they talked of declaring the throne vacant, and agreed to summon a diet, to meet at Lublin in the following May. Peter attended this meeting with his son Alexis, then seventeen years of age, Prince Men- zikoff, and some others of his ministers. In June f hey met again, when, after many debates, the throne was declared vacant, and thereupon a diet was sum- moned for a third election. A report being spread that the Tzar intended to propose his son as a can- didate for the throne of Poland, to prevent any sus- picion of that kind he sent away the Tzarovitz to Moscow. Peter urged to the diet the strong necessity there was not to delay choosing a new sovereign, as the only way to reconcile the divided members of the republic, and to show that they looked upon Stanis- 164 MEMOIR OF laus in no other light than as Palatine of Posnania. He wrote to the primate and chief ministers of the crown, that he could not take any solid measure against Charles, and for the benefit of the republic, unless they chose a new king ; stating that, if they would not do so, he could not forbear suspecting that they were not acting sincerely towards him. It was finally agreed that an interregnum should be publicly declared, and that the primate should be invested with the office of regent till the election had taken place. But in the mean time King Stanislaus had been acknowledged by most of the sovereigns of Europe ; and, having left Charles in Saxony, was advancing into Poland with General Renschild at the head of sixteen Swedish regiments, and received as lawful king at every place through which he had passed. The Tzar was also informed that the King of Sweden, having replenished his military chest by the contributions he had levied in Saxony, and aug- mented his army to 50,000 men, in addition to the force under General Lewenhaupt, was meditating how he should bring the Tzar to an engagement. He was also informed that the Porte had made propositions to Charles and to Stanislaus to join with them in an offensive alliance against Russia, with the view of forcing him to abstain from all interference in Polish affairs ; and that, in consequence, Charles had openly declared his intention of making Russia the theatre of war, — where he had no doubt of find- ing support from the people, dissatisfied with the expenses of the contest, and more so with the nu- merous innovations made in the manners and cus- toms of their forefathers. The better part of the Tzar's subjects knew, however, that, unlike Charles, he made no war for personal ambition. Economical and simple in his tastes and habits, never was there a prince less prodigal of the revenues of the state. It may be truly said of him, that after an arduous PETER THE GREAT. 165 and troublesome reign — after numerous grand de- signs and operations — after the construction and equipment of a powerful fleet, and a numerous and well-appointed army, both of his own creation — he left to his successor the finances of the country in a flourishing condition, and his subjects unburdened by any public debt. The French envoy to the court of Saxony made an attempt about this time to bring about a recon- ciliation between the Tzar and the King of Sweden ; but Charles made answer that he would treat with the Tzar in the city of Moscow. It was on this oc- casion that Peter said, " My brother Charles wishes to act the part of Alexander, but he shall not find in me a Darius." In August, 1707, Charles began his march from Alt-Ranstadt with his army above mentioned. While his troops were passing the walls of Dresden, Charles paid an extraordinary visit to King Augustus, which, Voltaire observes, was running a great risk, to trust himself in the hands of a prince whom he had stripped of his kingdom. Charles, however, had nothing to fear with 50,000 good troops at his heels. In passing through Poland the Swedes committed such horrid ravages that the peasantry rose in arms and destroyed several of his soldiers from ambus- cade, which the Swedes retaliated by murdering all that fell in their way, and reducing their habitations to ashes. The army went into winter-quarters in Lithuania. The Russian army was quartered in the provinces of Grodno and Minsk. While the two armies were thus taking up their winter-quarters, the Tzar repaired to Moscow, where he had not been the last two years, and was received with every possible demonstration of joy. He wit- nessed with pleasure the completion of a large hos- pital, a dispensary, a cloth manufactory, and glass- house, which he had planned when last in the city. Some other manufactories, of private individuals, 166 MEMOIR OF were in progress ; and, among others, that of pin- making, which Voltaire considers an unanswerable proof of the ignorance of the people, that this should be among the first they attempted ; and he had the satisfaction to find that the complaints and murmur- ing of the citizens at his new regulations had nearly- subsided. But a courier having arrived from Men- zikoff, on the first day of the new year, 1708, which his Tzarish majesty was just celebrating, bringing an account of the movements of the King of Sweden, he immediately set out, and fixed his head-quarters, with six hundred of the guards, in the city of Grodno, on the 6th February, — where, by a mistake of one of his officers, he very narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the Swedish king : for Charles, having heard of his arrival there, hurried away with only eight hundred of his guards, and marched directly to Grodno. A German officer, who commanded one of the gates of the town, on seeing the approach of the king, and supposing he was followed by his whole army, instead of disputing his passage, left it open. An alarm was immediately spread all over the town ; the cry was, the enemy's whole force had entered ; trie few Russians who attempted to oppose the Swedish guards were cut in pieces; and the Tzar, being assured that the Swedes were masters of the town, retreated behind the ramparts, and Charles placed a guard at the very gate through which Peter had retired. The Tzar now collected his forces in the pala- tinate of Minsk, and, finding that Charles was pur- suing him from the neighbourhood of Grodno, con- ceived the plan of drawing him on towards apart of the country from which he could obtain little or no subsistence — where he would have no magazines nor safe retreat — and where, after establishing his own army behind secure lines, he might attack with advantage his fatigued troops. This was a masterly piece of generalship on the part of Peter, — and the PETER THE GREAT. 167 more so, since he could so place his own army as to leave open to it a retreat, if necessary, over a tract of country which would afford him plenty of sub- sistence. He marched, therefore, to the right bank of the Borysthenes, or Dneiper, and intrenched him- self between Mohilovv, or Moghile, and Orsha, — a position which secured him an open and free com- munication with Smolensko. Having abundance of provisions for the main army, fifteen thousand men were sent under General Goltz to join twelve thou- sand Cossacks, with orders to lay waste and destroy the country for thirty miles round, and then to rejoin the Tzar beyond the Borysthenes. This measure obliged the Swedes to canton their army, and to encamp for want of forage, till the month of May. Such was the position of the two armies in the spring of 1708. CHAPTER VIII. The Battle of Pultowa. The day was now approaching when the two he- roes were, for the first and last time, to be brought into personal conflict at the head of their respective armies; to measure their strength, to show their skill in military movements, and to fight the decisive battle. The Russian army consisted at this time of about 100,000 effective men, of which 38,000 were infantry, about the same number of cavalry, 20,000 Cossacks, and 6000 Calniucks. The Swedes had 79 squadrons, 61 battalions of dragoons, and 101 battalions of in- fantry, making in the whole about 88,000 men ; but inferiority in point of numbers was more than com 168 MEMOIR OF pensated by the superior skill of the officers and the higher quality of the troops. It was not till the 25th of June that any affair of importance took place, when the King of Sweden came up with the division of 15,000 Russians, under General Goltz, who had encamped on the river Be- rezina, and was just joined by the two corps under Prince Repnin and the Field-marshal Scherematof. The King of Sweden made an attack on the three corps with the whole of his cavalry, which was gal- lantly received and vigorously resisted by the Rus- sians. The action lasted four hours, with great slaughter and great bravery on both sides. The Swedes lost a number of officers and 5000 men. The loss of the Russians was a major-general, six- teen captains, three lieutenants, and about 2000 men killed.* Charles was on horseback until Captain Gyllenstiern, a young Swede for whom he had a great esteem, was wounded and unable to march, when the king gave him his own horse, and fought, during the rest of the battle, on foot, at the head of his guards.f The Tzar did not arrive at this de- tachment of his army till two days after the battle. A report being spread that Charles had threatened to push on direct for Moscow, there to dictate to Peter such conditions of peace as he might think proper, the latter employed the corps under Goltz to lay waste the whole country between the Borys- thenes and the frontiers of Smolensko, which was the direct line the Swedes would probably take, pro- vided the king should attempt to carry his threat into execution ; and this having been accomplished by the Russian general, nothing short of an act of madness could induce so large an army to take that route. Charles, however, showed an indication of lead- ing his forces into the Russian territories by cross- * Neefesiiranoi. t Mottley. PETER THE GREAT. 169 ing the Borysthenes. The Tzar observed his move- ments, but remained quietly in his position ; not at all displeased to see the whole force of the enemy on that side of the river, where, in case of disaster, he could neither hope for succours nor a safe re- treat, and where a decisive victory only could save him. Peter, however, judged it advisable not to haz- ard, if it could be avoided, a general engagement, by which, if unsuccessful, an entrance would be laid open to the enemy into the very heart of his domin- ions. He resolved, therefore, after the manner of the Cossacks, to send out from his army several small corps, attacking, retreating, and wasting the country, so as to divert the enemy, and to make it difficult, if not impossible, for him to follow them. In the several skirmishes that took place, in some of which Charles exposed himself so as narrowly to escape with life, the Russians generally gave way, but left a waste behind them. Charles, however, still pushed on, in spite of all obstacles, almost to Smolensko, in the direct road to the capital of Rus- sia. But at length, his army becoming grievously exhausted by fatigue and famine, and perpetually harassed by the constant attacks of the Russian skirmishers and Cossacks,— -and finding, moreover, that the adherents he had flattered himself he should meet with, on entering Russia, entirely failed him, — he gave up all hope of reaching Moscow, where he had fondly flattered himself to treat of peace with his brother Peter, and turned suddenly towards the Ukraine. This false step proved the ruin of Charles and his army. Peter under whose orders the King of Sweden had been thus harassed, was at a loss to comprehend what could possibly be the intentions of Charles in making this desperate movement towards the Ukraine, which appeared to him nothing less than the road to certain destruction, as that country was ' well defended by 30,000 Cossacks, under the com- P 170 MEMOIR OP mand of the Hetman Mazeppa, on whose fidelity he placed the utmost confidence. The mystery, how- ever, of this movement was soon explained. Ma- zeppa, from some real or fancied slight he had received from the Tzar, had turned traitor, and sent a favourite officer to Charles to say, that the people of the Ukraine regarded him as their liberator, and that they would receive him with open arms. Se- duced by this proffered support, Charles was pre- vailed on to take a step which, among other disad- vantages, had that of separating himself from his best general, Lewenhaupt. This able officer did all he could to form a junction with the army under the king, but he had to traverse a ruined country, and was continually pursued and harassed in his march by General Bauer, who never for a moment lost sight of him. This general passed the Borysthenes on the 6th October at Mohilow, where he joined the Tzar, the Prince Menzikoff, and General Goltz, so that Lewenhaupt found himself surrounded by fifty or sixty thousand Russians, commanded by the Tzar in person. The Swedish general made a charge on the out- posts of the Russians, near the village of Lesno, and killed some four or five hundred men, when, after the first volley, the Russian infantry gave way and took to flight. Peter, on hearing this, was highly incensed, and gave immediate orders that a number of Cossacks and Calmucks should be placed behind the line, with positive directions to sabre every man who should attempt to quit the ranks, without regard to persons, even himself, if he should be guilty of such cowardly conduct. Lewenhaupt, after this affair, continued his march towards Propoisk, over roads nearly impracticable, intersected by woods and marshes, and pursued by a Russian army, which had been reinforced by three or four thousand dragoons, close to his heels. Lewenhaupt soon saw that the only chance left for PETER THE GREAT. 171 safety was on the issue of a battle. For this pur- pose he made the best possible disposition to receive the Russians ; he placed two battalions in advance, which were furiously attacked by Colonel Zambel with four battalions of the Tzar's guards ; the result was, that at least half of the battalion of the Swedes were left on the field. This affair brought on a general action, in which the Tzar, amid a most tre- mendous fire, passed from one part of the line to the other, and was everywhere animating, by his valour and his presence, both officers and soldiers. The battle continued with the greatest obstinacy the whole day, when the Swedes retired behind their baggage-wagons, and the fire began to slacken. The night having come on, and the difficulty of dislodging the enemy from behind his wagons being apparent, Peter forbade his officers, on pain of being cashiered, and his soldiers on the penalty of death, to go out for the plunder of the dead bodies ; and also ordered the whole army to remain under arms. It was observed that the Swedes kept up, during the night, great fires around the wagons. At dawn of day the Tzar had ordered that an attack should be made upon the Swedes, but it was discovered that Lewenhaupt had gone off in the course of the night, leaving behind him the wounded to the discretion of the Russians, and also the 7000 wagons destined to relieve the wants of the army under the king his master. Lewenhaupt swam the river Sissa with the remains of his army, and escaped with about four thousand men to join the King of Sweden at Starudub upon the Desna. The prisoners taken by the Russians were — 103 officers, 2673 men, 47 colours, 10 standards, 16 pieces of cannon, 7000 wagons, and all the arms, ammunition, and bag- gage. The loss of the Russians was 70 officers killed or dangerously wounded, and 1200 soldiers killed or wounded. Among the wounded officers were his highness of Darmstadt, General Bauer, and 172' MEMOIR OF Colonel Weyde. This was the first great battle in which the Tzar was present in person, and the first pitched battle gained by the Russians against an enemy who had gained so many victories over them. It was estimated that the total loss of the Swedes, under Lewenhaupt, amounted to eight thousand men, seventeen pieces of cannon, and forty-four colours, and the whole convoy of pro- visions intended for that part of the army under Charles, of which it stood in the greatest need. In the mean time, Charles was very uneasy at the non-arrival of Lewenhaupt on the expected day, and equally so on hearing nothing from Mazeppa, by whom he now began to suspect he was betrayed. Just, however, as he was preparing to pass the Desna, Mazeppa made his appearance — not indeed with a reinforcement of 20,000 men, and a large supply of provisions, as he had promised, but with two regiments only, and rather as a fugitive, who was in need of succours himself, than as a powerful prince bringing assistance to an ally placed in dif- ficult circumstances. He reported to the king that he had begun his march with sixteen thousand men, intended to be led, as he had made them believe, against the King of Sweden, who was desolating their country, and promising them that, after obtain- ing the honour of obstructing his progress, they would, for this piece of service, lay the powerful Tzar of Russia under eternal obligation, and be rewarded accordingly. Mazeppa further stated that, on approaching the Desna, he had thought it right to undeceive his men, and therefore, made them acquainted with his real design : that they received the proposed act of revolt with indignation, and positively refused to betray a monarch agamst whom they had no grounds of complaint, and that too for the sake of a Swede, who was marching an army into the heart of their country, and who, having laid it waste, would after- PETER THE GREAT. 173 ward leave them to the mercy of the powerful Tzar, whom they had outraged. The result was that, with the exception of the few men he had brought with him, all the rest deserted him and'returned to their homes. This intelligence was a severe blow to Charles in the present reduced state of his army, and the un- fortunate position in which he was placed. Mazeppa informed him that he had still possession of some fortresses in the Ukraine, and particularly that of Bathurin, which was his place of residence and the capital of the Cossacks. This place, situated near the forests of the Desna, was not of sufficient strength to stand a siege, but might serve to impede the Russians, and cause them to divide their forces. He ordered, therefore, a reinforcement to strengthen its garrison. The Tzar, however, had already sen Menzikoff and Galitzin, by a circuitous route, to at- tack this fortress, and on their appearing before it, the town was taken almost without resistance, plundered, and reduced to ashes. A council of war was now held at the Russian head-quarters, when sentence of excommunication was passed on Mazeppa by the Archbishop of Kiow, assisted by two other prelates ; after which the traitor was hanged in effigy, and some of his accom- plices, taken in Bathurin, were broken on the wheel. The principal men of the Cossacks then repaired to the church, and, after divine service, assembled in a large body to elect a new hetman : when the choice having fallen on John Skoropatsky, he was declared their general amid the acclamations of the people. This new general, attended by Menzikoff and Golof- kin, and by a great number of officers, went imme- diately to the quarters of the Tzar, who confirmed his election. All this happened in the month of November, at which inclement season Charles had to march through a country that was quite desolate, all the P2 174 MEMOIR OF villages having been burnt or destroyed ; nor did it appear that he had any definite object in view; while the defeat of Lewenhaupt and the disappoint- ment of Mazeppa's reinforcement, and the setting in of winter, appeared to render his situation hopeless. In the month of December the cold became so ex- tremely intense, that, in one of the marches, an enormous number of men are stated to have dropped down, either dying at once on the spot, or being left behind to perish. The Russians had their own country open to them in their rear, and received all manner of supplies; but the poor Swedes, being nearly naked, and half-famished, were unable to resist the inclemency of the weather. The effect- ive force of the Swedish army was now reduced to about five-and-twenty thousand men, besides the shattered remains of Lewenhaupt's corps, which could not exceed five thousand, and those brought with Mazeppa, which might be about two thousand more. Reduced to this deplorable situation, the Swedish chancellor, Count Piper, the able and prudent adviser of the king, entreated him to halt in a small town of the Ukraine, called Romira, where he might intrench his fatigued and dispirited army, and, in all proba- bility, be supplied with provisions by means of Ma- zeppa. Every rational consideration ought to have prevailed on the king to listen to this advice, es- pecially as the Russians were gone into winter- quarters, and not disposed to molest him; but Charles, with his habitual obstinacy, said it was beneath his dignity to shut himself up in a town. Piper then endeavoured to prevail on him to repass the Desna and the Borysthenes, and to retrace his steps into Poland ; there to put his troops into quar- ters, and to obtain those refreshments of which they stood so greatly in need. He represented to him the absolute necessity there was, independent of their own deplorable condition, to support King PETER THE GREAT. 175 Stanislaus, whom he himself had raised to the throne of Poland, and to defeat the views which the adverse party had of a new election, which wouia probably be carried in favour of his enemy, the late King Augustus. But this proposal had no better success. Charles replied, that if he did this, it would be considered the same thing as flying be- fore the Tzar ; that as to the season, it might be expected soon to grow milder; that he was de- termined to subdue the Ukraine, and then to march straight forward to Moscow : such was the infatua- tion that had got possession of the mind of Charles. Both armies, however, were compelled, from the intense cold of December and January, to remain in a state of inactivity. Charles first broke ground, by sending out detachments, as soon as the men were able to handle their arms, to attack and drive in the several small posts which had been placed by the Russians to obstruct his movements. This, in fact, was absolutely necessary, to enable him to obtain subsistence, the army being driven to the last extremity. For twenty leagues round, the peasantry of the Ukraine were robbed and pillaged by the Swedes ; nor does it appear that the latter were at all obstructed by the Russians, who remained quietly in their winter-quarters, Peter having, in all proba- bility, deemed it the best policy to leave the Swed- ish army unmolested, knowing that it was rapidly mouldering away. The senseless obstinacy of Charles was the ruin of himself and his whole army. In February he began his march across the Ukraine, to the south- east, burning all the villages and peasants' houses as he passed along, till he reached the sandy deserts to the westward of the river Donetz, which passes through the country of the Don Cossacks. What his object could have been in taking this direction it is not easy to conjecture ; but it is quite clear he was wholly unacquainted with the nature of the 176 MEMOIR OF country. He was, therefore, compelled to retrace his steps, and return across that very territory which he had just laid waste. His army, destitute of provisions, swept away the few remaining cattle from the peasantry, who, in their turn, murdered the soldiers, whenever they were strong enough to contend with them. This marching and counter- marching, by which his army was daily wasting in numbers, continued nearly three months, without answering any other purpose than that of harassing and weakening his forces. In the month of May he reached the river Vorskla, on which is situated the small fortified town of Pultowa, a place that had been garrisoned by the Russians, under the com- mand of General Allart, an experienced engineer officer. This place the Tzar had taken care to sup- ply with abundance of provisions and ammunition, considering it as a point of the greatest importance that it should not be occupied by the Swedes. It is so situated, that several passes lead from it through the mountains, in a northerly direction, all of which communicate with the great road to Moscow ; and as Charles seemed to have made up his mind not to relinquish his proud vision of dictating a peace to the Tzar in the Kremlin, he conceived the first step towards it would be the possession of Pultowa. Charles, accordingly, laid siege to this fortified place, with about eighteen thousand men, the re- mains of an army consisting of at least forty thousand when he left Saxony the year before. Peter was fully prepared for its defence ; and while Charles had been employed in wasting his army, the Tzar had availed himself of the winter months in visiting his establishments on the Don, from Vcronitz to Asoph ; had given orders for improving the harbours, for constructing an additional number of ships, and for repairing and strengthening the fortress of Ta- ganroc. On his return he was made fully acquainted with the proceedings of Charles ; and on the 15tl* PETER THE GREAT. 177 of June, 1709, he appeared before Pultowa, with an army from fifty to sixty thousand strong. He forth- with detached Menzikoft*, with a corps, to make a feint, as if he was about to offer battle to the be- siegers, who came out of their trenches to accept the challenge, and by this diversion Menzikoff suc- ceeded in throwing into the place a reinforcement of troops', which increased the garrison to about two thousand men. When Charles discovered this manoeuvre, he could not forbear saying, " I see well that we have taught the Muscovites the art of war." Peter, having now determined to bring on a general action, disposed his army in two long lines, between the Borysthenes and the Vorskla, which falls into the former, forming, at the junction, rather an acute angle, into which the Swedes would be driven, in the event of a defeat. He covered these lines by several redoubts, hastily thrown up, behind which he placed his cavalry and artillery. Several skirmishes had taken place before Pultowa, in one of which Charles received a wound from a shot, which shattered the bone of his heel, and obliged him to keep his bed for a few days, after undergoing a painful surgical operation. While in this situation, he received in- telligence that Peter appeared to be meditating a general attack ; upon which he ordered his whole army to be drawn out from the intrenchments, to receive the enemy, and caused himself to be carried in a litter. The Swedes commenced the battle, and made so vigorous an attack on the Russian redoubts, behind which the cavalry was posted, that, in spite of a heavy and continual fire from the artillery, they carried two of them sword in hand. The Russians acted with great steadiness ; and the Tzar, as major- general, drew up his army in a regular and masterly style. The troops were now everywhere engaged, and the battle became general. The right wing of the Russians was commanded by General Bauer, the left 178 MEMOIR OF by Prince Menzikoff, and the centre by Field-marshal Scherematof. The action lasted two hours. The two sovereigns seemed to feel that they were en- gaged in a battle which was to decide the fate of Russia or Sweden. They were everywhere in the front of their respective armies, exposing themselves to the very hottest of the fire. Charles, with a pistol in his hand, was carried in his litter from rank to rank ; one of its bearers was killed by a cannon-ball, which shattered the litter in pieces. Another con- veyance was instantly provided; or, as Voltaire says, he then ordered his men to carry him upon their pikes. Peter received several shots in his clothes, one through his hat, and several pierced his saddle. Menzikoff had three horses shot under him. At length the Swedes gave way on every part, and fell into confusion. " The invincible Swedes," says Peter, "turned their backs, and their whole army, cavalry as well as infantry, was overthrown, with very little loss on our part."* The rout now became general, and the slaughter dreadful. There remained on the field of battle, and near the redoubts, nine thousand two hundred and twenty-four of the enemy, besides two or three thousand prisoners, chiefly cavalry, that were, taken in the action. Among them were Major-generals Stackelberg and Hamilton, Marshal Renschild, the Prince of Wirtem- berg, and many other officers. " Thus," continues the Tzar's journal, "by the ' favour of the Almighty, this victory, to which there are few to be compared, was obtained with little trouble and little blood, over the proud King of Sweden, by the prudent and gallant conduct of his majesty in person, and by the valour of his chiefs and soldiers : for, in this affair of such great import- ance, his majesty exposed himself, for his subjects and his country, without sparing his own person, like * Jc^ma! de Pierre le Grand, PETER THE GREAT. 179 a true and great captain. It may be added, that in this great combat, our first line only was engaged ; the second was not brought up till the action was over."* On the evening of this proud day, Peter dined under his tent, in company with all his general and field-officers, and invited, also, the Swedish general officers who had been made prisoners in the battle, Count Piper, the Swedish minister, and the two secretaries of the king, Cederholm and Diben, who had all surrendered themselves. In the course of the entertainment, Peter took occasion to drink a health " to his masters in the art of war." Rens- child inquired whom his majesty was pleased to honour with such a title 1 " Yourselves, gentlemen, the brave Swedish generals," replied the Tzar. " Then," asked the general, " has not your majesty been somewhat ungrateful in dealing so hardly with your masters V Peter was not displeased at the compliment, and, turning to the general, inquired what number of men the King of Sweden might actually have had in the field on that memorable day ; and, on being told by Renschild that he had about nineteen thousand Swedes, and ten or eleven thousand Cossacks, — " How is it possible," said the Tzar, " that a prince so prudent as the King of Sweden could have thought of leading such a handful of men into a country unknown to him, and especially into such a country as this V To which Renschild replied, " It was not always that he and his brother officers were consulted respecting the operations of the war, but as faithful subjects they all felt it was their duty not to oppose, but to obey, their king." The Tzar was so much pleased with this reply, that he took his own sword from his side, and, presenting it to Renschild, requested he would wear it as a token of esteem, not alone for his valour, but also for his fidelity to his sovereign.! * Journal de Pierre le Grand. f Voltaire. Nestesmranoi. Mottley, &c. 180 MEMOIR OF He made many anxious inquiries after the fate of Charles ; and, as none of the prisoners could give any information of what had befallen him, he ordered a strict search to be made among the slain, to ascer- tain whether this unfortunate prince had not fallen in the battle, more particularly as he had been told that his litter was found shattered in pieces. Charles, however, having perceived that the day was lost, and that his only chance of safety was to retire with the utmost precipitation, suffered himself to be mounted on horseback, though some say in Meyerfeldt's carriage with twelve horses, and with the remains of his army under Marshal Lewenhaupt, fled to the southward, to a place called Perewolochna, situated in the very angle formed by the junction of the Vorskla with the Borysthenes, — the exact point to which the Tzar had supposed he would retreat in the event of a defeat. Here, accompanied by the traitor Mazeppa, and a few hunc'red of his followers, Charles swam the latter great river, and proceeding over a desolate country, in danger of perishing with hunger, at length reached the Bog, where he was kindly received by the Turkish pasha, who afforded him refreshments and boats to pass that river. The Tzar says, however, that the king and the traitor Mazeppa, having presented themselves at Otchakow, near the mouth of that river, the pasha could not permit them to enter the city, for fear of displeasing the sultan ; and that they therefore continued their march till they reached Bender on the Dniester. Here, as Voltaire observes, Charles gave a proof of that unreasonable obstinacy which occasioned all his misfortunes in Turkey, and led to a series of adventures more becoming an Orlando Furioso than a wise prince — of which this lively writer has given a narrative that appears to partake more of romance than of truth. The proof he gave of his obstinacy at Bender was this, that when advised to write to the grand vizier, according to the custom of the Turks, PETER THE GREAT. 181 he said it was beneath his dignity. The same ob- stinacy placed him successively at variance with all the ministers of the Porte ; in short, says Voltaire, 44 he knew not how to accommodate himself either to time or place."* But, to return to the shattered remains of the Swedish army, left at Perewolochna, under General Lewenhaupt, and which are stated, in the Tzar's journal, to amount to about fourteen thousand men. On the evening of the day of battle, Lieutenant- general Prince Galitzin, at the head of the regiments of guards, and Lieutenant-general Bauer, with the dragoons, amounting together to about ten thousand men, were sent in pursuit. On the 30th, that is, three days after the battle, MenzikofT, with about nine hundred men, came in sight of the enemy, posted at the foot of the mountains on the right bank of the Borysthenes, near Perewolochna, and sent imme- diately to summon Lewenhaupt to surrender, repre- senting to him that all retreat and hope of safety were cut off. The Swedish general, sensible that this was the case, did not hesitate to conclude and sign a treaty the same day, by which his whole army were declared to be prisoners of war, and all the artillery, with the military chest, the chancellory, and the standards, were surrendered to the victors. The generals here taken were Lewenhaupt, Schlip- penbach, Rosen, Stakelberg, and Creutz. " Thus," says the Tzar, " by the favour of God, all this famous army of the enemy, which, during its stay in Saxony, had been the terror of Europe, fell into the halids of his majesty ; for not a man of it escaped — all but a few hundreds, which passed the Dnieper with the king, having surrendered themselves to the victorious arms of Russia."! Though Peter greatly admired the gallant spirit of his brother Charles, as he used to call him, yet, * Voltaire, &c. t Journal de Pierre le Grand. a 182 MEMOIR OF when he looked upon the Swedish prisoners, the fate of so many unhappy men touched him sensibly, and he more than once spoke of the indignation he felt at the conduct of a prince who could sacrifice, in so wanton and useless a manner, to his ambition, so many brave and faithful subjects, of whom he ought to have been the father and protector. At the same time, whatever Peter's feelings may have been at the sight of so many gallant men, reduced to such a deplorable condition, they did not prevent him from giving orders that the greater part of them should be sent to Siberia, then a wild, uninhabited, and barren country. To this measure we must mainly ascribe those improvements which have now made a large portion of Siberia, not only habitable, but a desirable place of residence ; but it is melancholy to reflect that, for the mere gratification of the personal vanity of one man, so many thousand lives should have been wantonly sacrificed, and that of the 80,000 brave fellows who marched in full health and vigour .to the slaughter, not one in one thousand, probably, was destined ever to return to his country and his friends. Charles had not even the plea of state necessity or expediency to urge for this Quixotic expedition ; he would seem v indeed, to have forgotten that he had a country: Glory was the mistress he courted and fought for — but she deserted him, and fled to his more fortunate and more deserving rival ; for Peter, to say the least, had his country's weal at heart. All Europe felt the effects of the battle of Pul- towa. The Saxons called out loudly for revenge on a prince who had pillaged and plundered their coun- try. Their elector, Augustus, issued his protest against an extorted abdication, and was impatient to reascend the Polish throne. The Poles were now ready to assist him, and King Stanislaus declared himself equally ready to abdicate, if required to do so. Sweden was in a state of the greatest consterna- tion, supposing for a long time her king to be dead ? PETER THE GREAT. 183 and under this uncertainty was incapable of coming to any resolution. The influence of this great battle, if we were to believe Voltaire, extended even to England ; but here he is under a mistake as to facts. In 1708 it happened that the Russian ambassador Matveof was arrested in London for debt, and, after a long correspondence between the two courts, the parliament passed an act to prevent in future the arrest of an ambassador for debt ; and Queen Anne sent Mr. (afterward Lord) Whitworth to Russia, in the character of an ambassador extraordinary, with an explanatory and apologetical letter to the Tzar, solely on that occasion; but, says Voltaire, after the battle of Pultowa it became necessary to give a more public satisfaction to the Tzar ; and Mr. Whitworth opened his speech with the following words, " 'Most high and most mighty emperor V — the acknowledgment was sufficient, and the title of emperor, which the Queen had not given him before the battle of Pultowa, plainly showed the degree of estimation to which he was now raised in Europe." Now, Voltaire must have known, when he wrote this, that Queen Anne neither did nor could know what had hap- pened at Pultowa when Mr. Whitworth was des- patched from England. Her letter to the Tzar is dated in the early part of August ; the battle was fought on the 9th July, and intelligence, at that time, was not conveyed from the lowest part of the Uk- raine to Moscow, and from Moscow to England, in something less than a month. Besides, the Tzars, before Peter's time, had been not unfrequently ad- dressed by the title of emperor. There can be no doubt that Peter gained a degree of reputation from the victory of Pultowa which greatly facilitated the conquests that immediately followed it. The first was that of Elbing, the Swe- dish garrison of which surrendered themselves, and an immense quantity of guns, mortars, and ammu- nition, into the hands of the besiegers. The Tzar, 184 MEMOIR OF before the winter was over, had in zested Wybergv the chief town of Carelia, on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. Riga was next besieged ; but a dreadful pestilence was then raging in this part of Livonia, which is said to have swept away from eight to nine thousand Russians ; the Tzar makes his loss amount to 9800 men; and on this account they turned the siege into a blockade. About the middle of July, 1710, the garrison capitulated, on condition that all the Livonian officers and soldiers should remain in the service of the Tzar, as na- tives of a country that had once belonged to Russia, but had been wrested from her by the predecessors of Charles XII., and stripped of its ancient privi- leges. The surrender of Pernau and Revel com- pleted the conquest of Livonia. Count Stremberg, the governor of Riga, stated that the pestilence had destroyed little short of 60,000 persons among the huddled population of that city and its suburbs. But the most striking and immediate effect of this victory was that which it produced on the Poles, whose great anxiety seemed to be the speedy re- moval of King Stanislaus, to make room for the reinstatement of King Augustus, who was equally ready to resume the throne he had been compelled to abdicate. With this view he hastened to Thorn, to make his reconciliation with Peter for his former defection, where the meeting took place privately in the king's yacht. Irritable as the temper of the Tzar generally was, his disposition was very far from being implacable ; in the present instance he had the gratification of restoring a monarch to his crown, and the political motive of including Poland with the kings of Denmark and Prussia in a treaty against Sweden, the object of which was to recover from Charles all the conquests of Gustavus Adol- phus — Russia setting up pretensions to her ancient possessions of Livonia, Ingria, and a part of Finland ; Denmark laying claim to Scania ; and Prussia to Pomerania. PE1ER THE GREAT. 185 After this interview the Tzar proceeded to Prus- sia, where he had a meeting with the king, at Mari- enwerder, and completed a treaty with him, in his own person ; for Peter had seldom occasion for the assistance of an ambassador in his negotiations. With his usual activity he then turned to Riga, to give directions respecting the future government of that place ; thence to Petersburg, to inspect the progress of, and give the necessary orders respect- ing, the buildings and arrangements of his new and favourite capital, which he never lost sight of. A letter in his own hand appeared among the family papers of Apraxin, dated from the camp at Pult'owa, at nine in the evening of the day of battle, which has this paragraph : " At length, thank God, the j foundation-stone of Petersburg is laid." While at < Petersburg he laid down the keel of a large ship of ! war, and then set off for Moscow, where he found preparations making for the exhibition of a splendid triumph, by which the grateful citizens meant to ex- | press their sense of the distinguished and important services rendered by him to his country. I CHAPTER IX. The Battle of the Pruth. Charles XII. had no sooner reached Bender, and experienced the hospitality of the Turks, than he despatched Poniatowsk, to Constantinople, with in- structions to use all the means he could devise to induce the vizier to prevail on his master to com- mence hostilities against the Russians, taking care to impress strongly on his mind a conviction that their next object would be to invade same part of Q-2 186 MEMOIR OF the grand seignior's dominions. He conceived that such a representation would produce its effect on the Turks ; and accordingly he was soon informed by his ambassador, that he had succeeded so well with the vizier as to leave no doubt of his forthwith publishing a declaration of war against Russia, for that this minister had told him, " he would take him (Charles) in one hand, and his sword in the other, and conduct him to Moscow, at the head of 200,000 men." This piece of gasconade, how r ever, whether of Poniatowski or the vizier, did not avail the King of Sweden, who learned, with great mortification, that Count Tolstoy, the Tzar's envoy, was in such high favour at the Sublime Porte, that he had de- manded, and was all but promised, that the traitor Mazeppa should be delivered up to Peter, as Charles had demanded, and obtained possession of, the unfor- tunate Patkul ; but the old hetman of the Cossacks escaped this fate by taking a disease which hastened his death. But the object which the King of Sweden was unable to effect through the means of one vizier was brought about by a new one, in conjunction with the khan of the Crimean Tartars, the latter of whom had become apprehensive, and not without reason, of so formidable a neighbour as had now got possession of Asoph. The Porte, too, had taken umbrage at the appearance of Russian ships on the Palus-Mceotis and the Black Sea, and was alarmed at the building of so many ships on the Don, and at the extensive works carrying on in the harbour of Taganroc. It seems this khan of the Crimea had paid a visit to Charles at Bender, where such a state- ment of complaints and grievances was concocted between them as, on being presented by Poniatow- ski, tended greatly to awaken the sultan's jealousy of the intentions of the Russians. The khan pro- ceeded to Constantinople, and demanded an audi- ence of the sultan. He confirmed all that was stated PETER THE GREAT. 187 in the memorial, and added that the Russians were committing all kinds of ravages on the frontiers of the Turkish provinces, murdering- innocent believers, and plundering them of their property ; and con- cluded with a request that the great council should forthwith be called together, in order to ascertain their sentiments on the imminent dangers that threatened the whole Ottoman empire. The coun- cil met accordingly, and, without examining the question, decided that war was advisable, and the . sooner it was declared the better. The question was then put to the mufti, whether it was lawful to go to war, according to the Koran. The reply of the mufti was short and pithy, — " The law answers, it is necessary.'' Upon this Count Tolstoy, the | Tzar's ambassador, was arrested in the public , streets of Constantinople, and committed, together with his domestics, to the castle of the Seven i Towers. " Never," says Voltaire, " was sovereign more i offended in the person of his ministers than the Tzar of Muscovy. Within the space of a few years, his ambassador at the court of London was imprisoned for debt ; his plenipotentiary in Poland ! and Saxony was broken on the wheel by order of I the King of Sweden ; and his minister to the Porte was seized and imprisoned at Constantinople, like a i common malefactor." The Tzar lost not a moment in making prepara- ' tions for a Turkish campaign, by ordering a division of his army to advance from Poland to Moldavia. The Field-marshal Scherematof was directed to ■i march from Livonia with another body of troops j towards the same quarter. Admiral Apraxin was i to take command of the fleet at Asoph and on the Black Sea ; Admiral Cruys, a Dutchman, to guard the coasts of Livonia in the Baltic ; and Prince MenzikorT was left at the head of affairs in Peters- burg. Peter, having made these dispositions, set 188 MEMOIR OF out for Moscow to arrange matters for the adminis- tration of the government during his absence in the approaching campaign. He appointed a regency of eight senators, among whom were Prince P. Galitzin and Prince M. Dolgarouki, who proceeded to the church of the Assumption, and there, in presence of his majesty, the senate, and the principal authorities, took an oath to fulfil their duties with honour, in- tegrity, and activity ; to be faithful to the sovereign and the state, to observe strict justice in all matters public and private, and lastly, to act with good faith as well with regard to the levying of money and • men as in all other things relating to the interests of the state. At the same time, as some inconve- nience was felt in the army, from the necessity of raising persons of low description to the rank of officers, while the sons of the nobility studiously avoided the service, Peter sent an ordinance to the senate, directing them to assemble all those of a certain age, and to enrol them among the conscripts. He gave orders, also, that the army of Livonia, which had suffered so much from the plague, should be forthwith completed by recruits, to be sent to the frontier of Wallachia.* Having completed his arrangements at Moscow, he caused it to be declared solemnly in public, on the 6th March, 1711, that her majesty the Tzarina Catharine Alexiuna, was the true and legitimate wife of the Emperor Peter I.f Voltaire says he had privately married the young captive of Marien- burg in 1707, but that the marriage was only made public the same day on which he set out with his consort, in order to measure his strength with the Ottoman Porte. It is frequently difficult to recon- cile the different dates given by different writers of the Tzar's story. Captain Bruce, who was himself * Journal de Pierre le Grand, f Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce. PETER THE GREAT. 189 present on the spot, says, " On the 17th (May) we arrived at Warsaw, and at Jaweroff on the 29th, where we found the Tzar and Tzarina, and there they were privately married, at which ceremony the general (Bruce) was present, and upon this oc- casion he was made master-general of the ordnance, in the room of the Prince of Melita, who died a prisoner in Sweden. General Bruce was at this time knight of four orders, namely, St. Andrew, the White Eagle, the Black Eagle, and the Elephant ;" and here he adds, " I received my commission as captain in the artillery, and engineer."* Peter I. will probably be considered to know more correctly than Peter Bruce the day on which, and the place where, he was married. It is possible, however, that having here joined the army, he may have thought it right to repeat the declaration before made in Moscow. Be that as it may, Catharine accompanied her august husband to the war in Turkey. This extra- ordinary woman proved herself in all respects, and under all circumstances, superior to her sex, as well as to her birth and her early misfortunes. To the Tzar she was all in all ; she stood in the same rela- tion to him that the kind-hearted Josephine did to Napoleon ; both had been the mistresses of the men they married, and also of others before them ; both possessed the art, or rather the natural and persua- sive manners, to smooth down the asperity, assuage the anger, and allay the excitements to which their respective husbands were but too prone ; they both ascended an imperial throne ; but here the parallel ends — the one was most undeservedly cast aside, on the pretence of political expediency ; the other maintained her high station, and succeeded as sole autocratrix of all the Russias. The cheerfulness and liveliness of Catharine's temper, the sweetness t * Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce. 190 MEMOIR OF and complacency of her disposition, her mild and affable behaviour, her unremitting attention and un- wearied assiduity, her agreeable manners and con- versation, had acquired such an ascendency over the mind of Peter, that he was never so happy as when she was near his person. It has been men- tioned that the Tzar was subject to that particular species of spasmodic affection which has been called cataleptic : whenever this happened, and Catharine was within call, she was always sent for ; and such was the fascination of her presence, that, from the moment his eye caught her smiling face and his ear was greeted with the soft accents of her voice, the muscles began to relax, his agony was composed, his mind became tranquil, and in a short time " Peter was himself again ;" just as the sweet tones of David's harp had the power to draw out from Saul the evil spirit that tormented him. She attended him in all his travels and his most hazardous expe- ditions, sharing his fatigues and soothing his cares, ^-in fact, she became necessary to his health, his comfort, and even to his existence. General Gordon says, " She was a very pretty, well-lookt woman, of good sense, but not of that sublimity of wit, or rather that quickness of ima- gination, which some people have believed. The great reason why the Tzar was so fond of her was her exceeding good temper ; she never was seen peevish or out of humour ; obliging and civil to all, and never forgetful of her former condition ; withal mighty grateful."* Many a wretch escaped the effects of the Tzar's wrath by her interposition. "Catharine," says Voltaire, "saved more backs from the knout, and more heads from the block, than General Le Fort had ever done." Great indeed must have been the merit of this woman, who, having risen to the most elevated station from an * Gordon's History of Peter the Great. PETER THE GREAT. 191 obscure and almost unknown origin, maintained her lofty position without incurring the envy, hatred, or even jealousy of those over whom it was her destiny to rule. 14 Catharine," says Coxe, who cites from compe- tent authorities, " maintained the pomp of majesty united with an air of ease and grandeur ; and Peter frequently expressed his admiration at the propriety with which she supported her high station, without forgetting that she was not born to that dignity. She bore her elevation meekly, and was never, as Gordon asserts, forgetful of her former condition. When Wurmb, who had been tutor to Gluck's chil- dren, at the time that Catharine was a domestic in the same family, presented himself before her, after the public solemnization of her marriage with Peter, she said, ' What ! thou good man, art thou still alive ! I will provide for thee ;' and gave him a pension. She was also no less attentive to the family of her benefactor Gluck, who died a prisoner at Moscow : she pensioned his widow, made his son a page, portioned the two eldest daughters, and ap- pointed the youngest a maid of honour."* At Sorokat the Tzar joined the main body of the army, which is described by Bruce to have consisted of five divisions of 6000 men each, commanded by Marshal Scherematof ; the first was the Tzar's own division, the second General W r eyde's, the third Prince Repnin's, the fourth General Hallard's (or Allard's), and the fifth General Reutzel's ; in all 30,000 foot, attended by a very numerous train of artillery. Thirty thousand dragoons had been de- tached to destroy a fortress and magazine, erected by the Turks upon the Dniester, a little above Ben- der ; besides these, 50,000 Calmuck Tartars and 20,000 Cossacks were on their march to join the * Coxe's Travels in Russia, 192 MEMOIRS OF army, which would then amount to 130,000.* None of these, however, arrived, and the whole of the Russian army on the Pruth did not exceed, but rather fell short of, 40,000 men, — a considerable corps under General Renne having- crossed to the eastern side of Moldavia, upon the river Sireth. His majesty, being now resolved to march without waiting for the rest of his forces to join, issued a general order for all the women who attended the army to be sent away : the Tzarina, however, was not thus to be disposed of ; she insisted on accom- panying his majesty, and she knew well she would not be refused. Her husband, apprehensive of ex- posing her to a danger which every day became more menacing, wished her to return; but Catharine considered this solicitude of Peter as an affront to her affection and her courage. She urged her hus- band in such strong terms that Peter found it impos- sible to deprive himself of her company.! Th e soldiers with joy beheld her on horseback at the head of the army, for she rarely used a carriage. Her presence gave encouragement and diffused alacrity among the troops ; she was always ready to send refreshments and assistance to the sick, whether officers or private soldiers. The general officers, knowing her influence with the Tzar, peti- tioned her to obtain the same liberty for their wives that they might attend her majesty, which was also granted. After this, the wives of the other officers, conceiving themselves equally entitled to the indul- gence, prevailed on the good-natured Catharine to intercede for them, which she readily undertook to do, and the result was that they all went, notwith- standing the prohibitory order. " This circum- stance," says Bruce, " although it considerably aug- * Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, f Journal de Pierre le Grand. PETER THE GREAT. 193 mented the train of our baggage, proved in the end a very fortunate one." He might well say so — it proved the salvation of the Tzar, his army, and per- haps of Russia — all of which were placed in immi- nent peril by the misplaced confidence of Peter and the incautious rapidity of his movements. Peter proceeded from Sorokat towards Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, having entered into a secret en- gagement with Brancovan, Prince of Wallachia, who not only undertook to join the Tzar with his whole force, but to provide his army abundantly with pro- visions and forage. Whether he was a traitor, or meant to act with good faith, was never brought to : the test ; for the sultan, having been informed of his intended revolt, had deprived him of his princi- I pality : and having some suspicion of the fidelity of i Mavrocordato, who was the Hospodar of Moldavia, I the sultan deposed him too, and appointed Cantimir Prince or Hospodar of Wallachia, who was directed to proceed forthwith, with orders to seize Branco- van, under colour of friendship, or on any other pre- tence, and send him, dead or alive, to Constantino- ple ; and, at the same time, to throw a bridge over the Dniester, to facilitate the passage of his army to oppose the Russians. Cantimir, being a Christian, had experienced how little faith was to be expected from the Turk, and as a Christian prince, he felt i bound in honour, and for the cause of the Christian religion, to forsake that of the infidel, and make an goffer of himself and his principality to the Tzar. i Peter, however, having been deceived by Brancovan, which called for his immediate determination, he con- sulted his evil-minded advisers, who told him how dangerous it would be to put himself into the power of a provoked father and a mother-in-law, at a distance from all his friends. He pretended, however, to the regency that he should set out for Copenhagen, and obtained money to a considerable amount from Men- zikofffor the expenses of the journey ; but on reach- ing the borders of Livonia, he took the road to Vi- enna, and threw himself on the protection of the emperor, intending, if permitted, to continue at his court till the death of his father. Charles, however, ! was in no disposition to give offence to the Tzar of Russia, and after some time the Tzarovitz removed I himself to Naples. When the Tzar heard of his proceedings, he sent away Captain Romanzoff, of the guards, and M. Tolstoi, a privy-counsellor, with a letter dated from Spa, the 10th July, 1717, of which the following is the substance : " That Tolstoi and Romanzoff will make known to him his will ; that on his obedience he gave him his assurance and promise before God that he would not inflict punishment on him, but, on his return, would love him better than ever. But," says he, " if you do not, by virtue of the power I have received from God as your father, I pronounce against you my everlasting curse ; and, as your sovereign, 1 can assure you I shall find ways to pun- ish you ; which I hope, as my cause is just, God will take it in hand, and assist me in avenging it." It required much persuasion and promises, and even menace, before the envoys could prevail on Alexis to return with them to his father. They dwelt on the solemn asseveration in the letter, that the Tzar would not only pardon, but would love him better than ever. On this assurance the Tzarovitz, with his mistress, set out with the two envoys, ?52 MEMOIR OF They arrived at Moscow on the 13th February, 1718, and on that very day the prince had a private inter- view with his father. A general belief now prevailed that a reconcilia- tion had taken place, and that every thing was to be forgotten ; but the very next day the regiments of guards were ordered under arms, and the great bell of Moscow was tolled. The senate, the boyars, the privy-counsellors were summoned to the castle ; the bishops, the archimandrites, the superior clergy, the professors of divinity, assembled in the cathe- dral. Alexis was brought into the castle as a pris* oner ; he fell on his knees before his father, and delivered to him a paper, in which he acknowledged his crimes, declared himself unworthy of the succes- sion, and entreated that his life might be spared, The Tzar, raising him up, took him into a closet, but what passed therein is conjecture only. When brought back into the council-chamber, a declara- tion of the Tzar was publicly read. It commenced by reproaching his son with indolence and remiss- ness in improving himself, in associating with disso* lute companions, his hatred of all improvements, his violation of conjugal faith by taking up with a low- born woman/ by placing himself under the protec- tion of the Emperor of Germany, slandering his father, and asking the emperor to defend him by force of arms, telling him (what turned out to be too true) that his life was not safe if he returned to Rus- sia. The declaration then proceeds : — " Such was the manner in which our son has re- turned ; and though his flight and his calumnies de- serve death, those crimes our fatherly^ affection has forgiven. But his notorious unworthiness and im- morality will not allow us, in conscience, to leave to him the succession to the empire ; it being too manifest that by his ill conduct the glory of the nation would be overturned, and a loss occasioned of all the provinces recovered by our arms. To PETER THE GREAT. 253 place our subjects under such a successor, would be to plunge them into a condition much worse than they have at any time experienced. Accordingly, by our paternal power, in virtue of which, agreeably wich the laws of our empire, every subject even can at pleasure disinherit a son, — and in pursuance of our prerogative as sovereign prince, and in consid- eration of the welfare of our dominions, — we de- prive our said son Alexis of the succession after us to the throne of Russia, on account of his crimes and his unworthiness, even though there should not exist a single person of our family at the time of our de- cease. " And we constitute and declare, in default of a successor of a more advanced age, our second son Peter, young though he be, as successor to the said throne after us. " May our paternal malediction fall on our above- mentioned son Alexis, if ever at any time he shall set up such pretensions to the said succession, or take measures for procuring it. "We also require our faithful subjects, ecclesias- tics and seculars, as well as every other state, and the whole Russian nation, that, in pursuance of this ordinance and our will, they acknowledge and con- sider our said son Peter, nominated by us to the succession, as the lawful successor, and that, con- formably with this present ordinance, they confirm every part of it by oath before the holy altar, on the holy gospels, kissing the cross. " And all those who shall at any time whatsoever oppose this our will, and who, from and after the date hereo f, shal l dare to consider our son Alexis as successo^ljBKUst him to that end, we declare them traitors toTfiB ■ their country; and we have ordered this present^^fcance to be published, that no per- son may pleadBfcrance. Given, &c. 14th February, 1718. SignecSfflBi our hand, and sealed with our 254 MEMOIR OF After which was read the " Act of Renunciation," on the part of the Tzarovitz, which he had placed in the hands of his majesty: — " I, the undersigned, declare before the holy Evan- gelists, that 1 acknowledge and avow this exclusion to be just, as having deserved it by my crimes and unworthiness : and I bind myself and swear, in the name of the sacred and almighty Trinity, to sub- mit myself wholly to this my father's will ; never to seek after this succession, never to lay claim to it, never to accept it, under any pretence whatever ; and I acknowledge as lawful successor my brother, the Tzarovitz Peter Pietrovitz, on which I kiss the holy cross, and sign these presents with my own hand. — Alexis." The same instruments were then taken by the Tzar to the cathedral, where they went through a second reading, and all the ecclesiastics testified their approbation, and signed their names. " Never," says Voltaire, "was prince disinherited in so authen- tic a manner. There are many states in which such an act would be of no validity ; but in Russia, as among the ancient Romans, every father could dis- inherit his son ; and this is much stronger in a sove- reign than in a subject, and especially in such a sovereign as Peter." This sovereign, however, has been much censured for breaking faith with his son, after the solemn promise, amounting to an oath, that if he returned from Naples, he would not only for- give him, but love him more than ever. The same writer finds an apology, by saying, that "perhaps the father, in the conflict between paternal affection and reasons of state, meant only to confer that love on his son as a recluse ; that perhaps he might still hope to reclaim him ; and by bringing him to a due sense of the loss of the crown, render him worthy of the succession." The apology appears but a weak one ; still it must be admitted the Tzar was placed in a critical and BETER THE GREAT. 255 ! most painful situation. He knew that this son was f by nature of a very weak order of intellect, and that i he had long been beset by a mischievous party, who l instilled into his mind a hatred of his father and of j every step he took for the improvement of his coun- try ; who had advised his elopement, and who would, [ undoubtedly, set aside a renunciation which had " been thrust upon him ; and use every endeavour to restore to him the crown which, he would be told, [ had been illegally transferred to a younger and a ' half-brother. He knew, and all sensible men who \ had any regard for themselves and their country ] knew, that in such a case, the certain consequence 1 would be a civil war, and the end of it a total loss of all his glorious conquests, and the ruin of all his ! useful establishments, in laying the foundations of j which he had spent the whole of a laborious life. , The question, as Voltaire says, lay between the welfare of eighteen millions of men and one single ; person, and that person wholly incapable of gov- erning. These were the considerations, probably, which determined the Tzar to know the names of the 1 disaffected, to what extent their numbers amounted, and who had been his principal ill-advisers ; and this was considered to be of such importance, that the Tzar threatened his son with capital punishment should he conceal any thing from him. Alexis prom- ised to declare the whole and pure truth, as before God, and without disguise ; and swore, on the holy Evangelists, before the altar, to discover every thing. The next day the Tzar sent him a number of questions, which he was to answer in writing. One of them related to a letter from M. Beyer, the em- peror's resident at Petersburg, written after the prince's elopement, the substance of which was, that the Russian army in Mecklenburg had mutinied ; that several of the officers talked of sending the new Tzanna (Catharine) and her son to the prison where 256 MEMOIR OF the repudiated Tzarina was confined, and of placing Alexis on the throne. To this gossiping letter of one of those gentlemen who, residing at foreign courts, think it a part of their duty to send to their employers the news of the day, whether true or false, the young prince might have pleaded igno- rance : what had he to do with Beyer's letter 1 He was asked, however, the following question : — "When you saw, by Beyer's letter, that there was a revolt in the Mecklenburg army, you was glad of it ; I apprehend you had some view, and that you would have declared for the rebels, even in my lifetime T Such a question among a civilized people, and in England in particular, would not have been suffered to be put ; or, if put, the judge would have cautioned the prisoner not to answer. But Russia was yet barbarous as well as despotic ; and a person there might be condemned to death for a secret sentiment on a prospective event which never happened. Alexis, however, answered the question in writing : " Had the rebels invited me in your lifetime, I should probably have joined them, had they been strong enough." Another charge was of a much more serious na- ture. Rough drafts of two letters, written from Vienna, were found in his own hand, — one to the senators, and the other to the archbishops of Russia; in the latter of which he says, " The continual in- juries which I have undeservedly suffered have obliged me to quit my country : I had a narrow es- cape from being shut up in a convent : they who have confined my mother were about to use me in the same manner. I am under the protection of a great prince. It is my desire you will not forsake me at present." The words at present had been drawn through with a pen, and afterward replaced with his own hand,— PETER THE GREAT. 257 and again a second time effaced. The letters them- selves were stopped by the court of Vienna. A person of the name of Afanassief deposed that he had heard Alexis say, " I will say something to the bishops, and they will tell it among- the priests, and the priests to their parishioners, and I shall be placed on the throne, even though it were against my will." His mistress Aphrosine deposed against him, as complaining of his father, and wishing for his death. The prince was also accused of consult- ing his mother, the late Tzarina, and his sister, the Princess Mary, with regard to his elopement ; and the Bishop of Rostof deposed that, being in their confidence, he knew that these two princesses en- tertained hopes of a change that would release them from confinement ; and that they instigated Alexis to fly into Germany, instead of going to his father at Copenhagen, A priest of the name of Jaques, being put to the torture, owned that the prince, in confes- sion, had accused himself before God that he had wished his father's death; and that he, the confes- sor, made- answer, " God will forgive you ; it is no more than what we all wish." It is not necessary to go through all the proceed- ings of this lamentable story. The most extraor- dinary part of it is the eagerness with which Alexis strove, as it were, to make himself appear guilty ; and even the falsehoods which he uttered, to give a stronger colour to his guilt ; for instance, in an- swer to his father's sixth question, he owns he did not see the emperor ; that he applied to Count Schonborn, who said to him, " The emperor will not forsake you ; and at a proper season, after your father's demise, he will assist you with an armed force to ascend the throne." — " My answer was," added the accused prince, " that is not what I ask : all 1 desire is, that the emperor will be pleased to grant me his protection." This was in the month of February, at Moscow. But after the execution of Y2 258 MEMOIR OF the accomplices named by the prince, and a lapse of four months, and when the proceedings were renewed against this unfortunate young man at Petersburg, being again interrogated on this point, he says, in writing, " Being resolved to imitate my father in nothing, I endeavoured to arrive at the succession at any rate, even by foreign assistance ; and if I had succeeded in my object, and the emperor had done what he promised me,— -that he would obtain for me the crown of Russia, even by open force, — T would have spared nothing to secure myself in the suc- cession. I would, at my own cost, have maintained the auxiliary troops with which he would have sup- plied me, to put me in possession of the crown of Russia ; and, in short, I would have stuck at nothing to carry my point." This gratuitous falsehood looks very much as if it had been extorted from him ; unless, indeed, it was intended as a defiance to the proceedings which his father was instituting against him. The Tzar prom- ised him pardon on making a general confession ; but he did not desire him to state what was not true. He was asked, as a condition of that pardon, to declare the accomplices of his elopement ; he con- cealed several of them ; the answers he gave to several of his father's interrogatories in February were at variance with those he delivered in July. "When, therefore, Peter came to the final resolution of trying him by the great officers of state, the judges, and the bishops, he yielded to a distressing case of state necessity, which he considered as requiring the exercise of rigid justice, on the broad principle, that it is better a delinquent should be punished than a whole empire be endangered ; and that reasons of state must be held as paramount even to the ties of nature and of blood, which, in the present case, had long been severed by the unnatural conduct of the son against the father. In truth, his conduct had been such from his boyhood as to efface every feel- PETER THE GREAT. 259 ing of natural affection from his father's heart. In judging of this case, we should bear in mind what were the circumstances, the condition, the manners, and the laws of Russia. Even now, in that despotic government, the summary removal from life of the sovereign, or members of the im- perial family, is tacitly claimed as a sort of right.* Here, however, a solemn assembly was openly held, the charges were promulgated, the sentence of the judges, and every document connected with the proceedings, published to the whole world, that both Russia and the surrounding nations might have the means of forming a judgment between the father and the son. It has been said that Peter instituted these pro- ceedings from a wish to secure the throne for his younger son, to the exclusion of Alexis; but there is proof on record that, many years before the birth of this boy, he had determined to disinherit Alexis, and gave him notice he should do so, if he did not amend. As far back indeed as 1711, he had in his own mind set him aside. In that disastrous affair on the Pruth, in acquainting the senate with the perilous situation into which he had been led by false information, all his resources cut off, his army surrounded by an enemy four times more numerous than his own, he concludes his letter by saying, " If I am doomed to perish here, and you should receive an authenticated account of my death, you will then proceed to choose, as my successor, the most worthy among you" The law of Russia, which conferred the fatal right on the Tzar to punish his son with death, merely for his elopement, independent of any other crime, left this, or any other punishment, in the sovereign's hands ; but he thought it more proper to submit the case for the decision of the judges of the land, the nobles, and the ecclesiastics, before whom he thus declared his sentiments ; — * Quarterly Review, vol. xxxv. 260 MEMOIR OF " Though by all divine and human laws, and espe- cially by those of Russia, which exclude all inter- position of the civil power between father and son, even among private persons, we have a sufficient and absolute power of sentencing our son according to his crimes and our will, without consulting any One ; yet men not being so clear-sighted in their own affairs as in those of others, and as the most skilful physicians, instead of prescribing for themselves, Jrave recourse to others when sick ; so, fearing lest I should bring some sin on my conscience, I state my case to you, and require a remedy. For if, ignorant of the name of my distemper, I should go about to cure it by my own ability, the consequence may be eternal death, seeing that I have sworn on the judgments of God, and have, in writing, promised my son his pardon, provided he tells me the truth, and afterward confirms that promise with his mouth. " Though my son has broken his promise, yet that I may not, in any thing, depart from my obligations, I desire you will think on this affair, and examine it with the greatest attention, to see what he has de- served. Do not flatter me ; be neither in the least afraid that, should he deserve only a slight punish- ment, and you deliver your opinion accordingly, it will offend me ; for I swear to you, by the great God, and by his judgments, that you have absolutely nothing at all to apprehend. " Let it give you no uneasiness that you have to try your sovereign's son ; but, without any respect of persons, do justice, and destroy not both your souls and mine. Lastly, let not our conscience have any thing to reproach us with on the terrible day of judgment, and let not our country be hurt." The clergy were the first to deliver their opinion, which they did by stating that the affair does not in any way belong to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction ; that the absolute prerogative is vested in the sove- reign, and does not depend on the judgment of the PETER THE GKEAT. 261 subjects. They quote cases from the Old Testa- ment, in which it is said that " Whoever curseth his father or mother shall be punished with death ;" and having cited various other passages, they thus con- clude : — " If his majesty is inclined to punish the delinquent according to his actions and the measure of his guilt, he has before him examples from the Old Testament : if he be inclined to spare, he has the pattern of Christ himself, kindly receiving the penitent prodigal, dismissing the woman taken in adultery, who, by the law, was to be stoned ; and delighting in mercy more than sacrifice. He has the example of David, who is solicitous for the safety of Absalom his son, though an open rebel, recom- mending him to the commanders of his army, who insisted on giving him battle ; " Spare my son Absa- ' Jom" — the father was for showing him mercy, but Divine justice did not spare him. The Tzar's heart is in the hands of God ; let him choose that to which God shall incline him." This opinion, which does great credit to the clergy of Russia, was signed by the metropolitan of Rezan, eight bishops, four archimandrites and two pro- fessors, and delivered to the Tzar : it manifestly was inclined to clemency. But more interrogations, and more confessions followed this ; and, on the 5th July, the ministers, the senators, and generals, to the number of one hundred and twenty-four, unanimously condemned Alexis to death, but without specifying the manner of his execution ; " submitting this sen- tence which we deliver, and this condemnation which we declare, to the supreme honour, the will, and the merciful revision of his majesty, our most merciful sovereign." There can be but one opinion as to the harshness and barbarity of the whole proceeding; and better far would it have been for the father, in virtue of his prerogative, to have put to death his disobedient son, than to have worried him night and day for nearly 262 MEMOIR OF iive months, extorting from him confessions— not, however, as has been said, by actual torture, at le rt st this does not appear — but only surmised on the ground that nothing short of corporeal agony could have created in the young man a manifest desire to criminate himself, even as to his secret thoughts, and to represent himself as a person of a malignant mind and evil disposition. The Tzar, however, thought he was acting right, in referring to the judgment of the representatives of the nation a case in which the fate of that nation was so deeply concerned ; and not doubting the equity of his proceedings, he caused the whole trial to be printed and translated, and thus submitted himself to the judgment of the world.* A foreign writer, of the name of Lamberti, has 1 accused Catharine of inducing the Tzar to bring Alexis to trial, and cause him to be sentenced to death ; asserts that the Tzar knoutedhis son, and then with his own hands cut off his head ; but that, when publicly exposed, it was so cleverly fitted to the body, that it did not appear to have ever been severed; that Peter contracted a sourness after this, and entertained a thought of having the Tzarina shaved and shut up in a convent ; that she and Men- zikoif poisoned the Tzar ; with much more of such absurd trash, which the writer procured from a man who was not in Russia at the time, and who, Voltaire says, owned to him " that all he had talked about with Lamberti was only the report of those times :" and this is history! As to the sourness of Peter, and the shaving and shutting up of Catharine, it may be charitably supposed that Lamberti had never heard of her accompanying him, long after this, to Persia, nor of her coronation, nor of the reasons as- signed by Peter for conferring that honour on his faithful spouse. Voltaire very properly exposes the * Nestesuranoi. Mottley's book contains the whole of the voluminous documents that were made public. PETER THE GREAT. 263 ^absurdity of the whole story ; and further says, with -regard to Catharine, on the authority of a public [minister, that the Tzar told the Duke of Holstein [that Catharine had entreated him to hinder the sen- tence being pronounced against the Tzarovitz ; and [that he should be satisfied by compelling him to ;become a monk, as the disgrace of a sentence of [death would reflect on his grandson.* The Tzar, however, could not be prevailed on to yield to the entreaties of his consort, but thought it proper that ;the sentence should at least be publicly pronounced ; ^that by this solemn act being publicly made known, and rendering Alexis civilly dead, he would be for .ever disqualified from afterward pretending even to the crown. By this it would seem the Tzar had no j intention whatever of carrying the sentence into (execution. In his letter to the several courts of i Europe, assigning his reasons for the public trial of his son, he says, after stating the nature of the sen- tence, " and while we were debating in our mind between the natural motions of paternal clemency I on one side, and the regard we ought to pay to the I preservation and the future security of our kingdom : on the other, and pondering on what resolution to I take, in an affair of so great difficulty and import- ance, it pleased the Almighty God, by his especial will and his just judgment, and by his mercy, to deliver us out of that embarrassment, and to save our family and kingdom from the shame and the dangers, by abridging yesterday the life of our said son Alexis, after an illness with which he was seized, as soon as he had heard the sentence of death pro- nounced against him. That illness appeared at first like an apoplexy ; but he afterward recovered his senses, and received the holy sacraments as a Christian ; and having desired to see us, we went to him immediately, with all our counsellors and sena- * Voltaire's Hist, de Russie. 264 MEMOIR OF tors ; and then he acknowledged and sincerely con- fessed all his said faults and crimes committed against us, with tears, and all the marks of a true penitent, and begged our pardon, which, according to Christian and paternal duty, we granted him after which, on the 7th July, at six in the evening, he surrendered his soul to God."* This account, according to most of the historians, is strictly true, and certainly argues no intention on the part of the Tzar to carry the sentence into exe- cution ; and yet various reports were spread over Europe, giving a very different interpretation to the manner of the prince's death, most of which may be traced to the different foreign residents at the court of Petersburg at the time. One wrote home a re- port that the Tzar had poisoned him ; another that he had whipped or knouted him to death ; and a third that he had cut off his head with his own hands. At what particular time he could have done all or any of these it would be difficult to discover. The Tzarovitz was taken out of the court in the evening of the 6th July ; on the morning of the 7th, messen- gers came to the Tzar to report the illness of his son, with his request to see him. He went accord- ingly, attended by all the great officers of his court, among whom were foreigners, both Scotch and Germans ; he took an affectionate leave ; but the illness of the prince increasing, he was sent for again in the evening, and was on the point of going when he was stopped by intelligence of his son's death. Here, therefore, there could be no knouting nor cutting the head off, unless it was done in the presence of the senators, the bishops, the generals, and courtiers, all of whom accompanied the Tzar ; and yet, one of our most intelligent travellers, a master of arts, a fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian * Mottley. PETER THE GREAT 265 Societies, and a dignitary of the church, states his belief that Alexis " was. secretly executed in prison. "* Mr. Coxe places his faith on Busching, the com- piler of an historical magazine, — a receptacle for all that was sent to it, in which it is positively affirmed that he was beheaded by order of his father, and that Marshal Weyde performed the office of execu- tioner. This, at any rate, exonerates the Tzar from having done it himself. And on what ground is this bold assertion made ? — on a conversation of a se- cond person with a certain Madame Cramer, a lady at Petersburg, who was in high confidence both with Peter and Catharine ; and who, it is boldly as- serted, was employed in sewing the prince's head to the body before it lay in state. Why the head of a poor man, sick in his bed, should be privately taken off, for no other purpose than sewin^nx on again, is quite inconceivable. Still Mr. Coxe is disposed to believe that such was the case : he met with an in- timate acquaintance of the above-mentioned lady, who assured him that he always found her extremely averse to hold any discourse on the death of Alexis ; that she seemed exceedingly shocked (and well she might) whenever the topic was introduced, and no- thing further could be extorted from her than that she was the person who prepared the body for the ceremony of lying in state. Would the intimate acquaintance have " extorted" from Madame Cramer a direct falsehood 1 Was she to confess to an operation which she never performed, and which was much fitter for a surgeon than a delicate lady ? Yet, strange to say, this very unwillingness of Madame Cramer to enter upon the subject, and her declara- tion that she only prepared the body for the funeral, adds, in Mr. Coxe's mind, a great degree of confirm- ation. * Travels in Poland, Russia, &c, by W. Coxe, A.M., F.R.S. y F.A.S., Rector of Bemerton. Z 266 MEMOIR OF But Mr. Coxe has " an additional proof in favour of this fact," and from an English gentleman of un<- doubted veracity, a Mr. Riest, who had it from Prince Cantimir's secretary, who was eighty years of age, and the said prince was in high favour with Peter, as he undoubtedly must have been to get from him such a secret. Mr. Coxe adds, that this fact (of beheading) appears so well attested, that many Ger- man historians have adopted it without reserve (and many of them are ready to adopt stranger things than this), and that in several of the genealogical tables of the imperial family, Alexis is inserted as beheaded."* It is surprising that a man of Mr. Coxe's sagacity should suffer himself to be so far led astray as to ground his belief on such inconclu- sive evidence. He admits, indeed, that a passage in Bruce's Memoirs seems to invalidate what he calls "this concurrent evidence," and to prove that he was poisoned. Bruce's story is singularly curious, but it affords no such proof. It is as follows : — " On the next day (after the trial), his majesty, attended by all the senators and bishops, with several others of high rank, went to the fort, and entered the apartments where the Tzarovitz was kept pris- oner. Some little time thereafter Marshal Weyde came out, and ordered me to go to Mr. Bear's the druggist, whose shop was hard-by, and tell him to make the potion strong which he had bespoke, as the prince was then very ill. When I delivered this message to Mr. Bear, he turned quite pale, and fell a shaking and trembling, and appeared in the utmost confusion, which surprised me so much, that I asked him what was the matter with him, but he was un- able to return me any answer. In the mean time, the marshal himself came in, much in the same con- dition with the druggist, saying he ought to have been more expeditious, as the prince was very ill of * Coxe. PETER THE GREAT. 267 an apoplectic fit : upon this the druggisi; delivered him a silver cup with a cover, which the marshal himself carried into the prince's apartments, stag- gering all the way as he went like one drunk. About half an hour after, the Tzar with all his attendants withdrew with very dismal countenances, and when they went, the marshal ordered me to attend at the prince's apartment, and in case of any alteration, to inform him immediately thereof: there were at that time two physicians and two surgeons in wait- ing, with whom, and the officer on guard, I dined on what had been dressed for the prince's dinner. The physicians were called in immediately after to attend the prince, who was struggling out of one convul- sion into another, and, after great agonies, expired at five o'clock in the afternoon." Mr. Coxe, however, is so much prepossessed with the story of the decapitation as to say, " it by no means follows, even from this state of the case, that the Tzarovitz was poisoned." For he asks, " Can we suppose that Peter would order a dose of poison to be prepared for his son at a ehymist's shop, and that Marshal Weyde would openly send for it, without the least mystery] May we not rather infer that the potion was a medicine similar to those which had been already prescribed for the prince, who had for some time been extremely in- disposed ? The fright of the chymist," he argues, 4i might arise from thinking his own safety involved in the catastrophe ;" and he arrives at this most sin- gular conclusion, that " the agitation of Marshal Weyde will be still more satisfactorily accounted for, if, according to Busching, he was preparing to perform, or had already performed, the execution." Mr. Coxe is here evidently in a dilemma — if pre- paring for the operation, where was the need of the poison ? — if already performed, what was the use of the potion ! If he was already poisoned, it CQuld not be necessary to strike off his head — if be- 268 MEMOIR OF headed, still less necessary to administer poison — if it was deemed necessary to behead him, why was it further necessary to sew the head on again, and so neatly that no one could know whether the head had ever been off ? With regard to the poison, it should be repeated that Bruce is a very loose writer. If he had said draught instead of potion, a soothing draught or opiate to stay his convulsions (to which the family were subject), he would have been intelligible. One thing at least is certain, that between the poisoning and the beheading, the undetermined state of Mr. Coxe's opinion is quite sufficient to neutralize both. Voltaire took a very different and probably a sounder view of the idle reports circulating at the time in Europe. " How could the Tzar," says he, " have cut off the head of his son, when extreme unction was administered to him in the presence of all the court 1 Had he no head when the oil was poured on it 1 At what time might this head have been stitched on again to his body ? The prince, from the reading of the sentence to his death, was not left alone one moment. The anecdote of his father's making use of the axe overthrows the story of his having been despatched by poison. If the Tzar had poisoned his son, this would have de- prived him of the advantage of all he had been doing during the course of this extraordinary trial, to con- vince Europe of the right he had to punish : it would have brought a suspicion on the motives of the sentence, and would have been to condemn himself. If he had resolved on Alexis' death, he would have caused the sentence to be executed ; was it not en- tirely in his power 1 Could a prudent person, a monarch who had attracted the eyes of all the world, bring himself basely to poison one whom he had a right to cut off with the sword of justice 1 Would he suffer his name to be transmitted to posterity in the heinous colours of a parricide, when he might PETER THE GREAT. 269 so easily have brought himself off only as a rigorous judge? The conclusion to which this shrewd writer comes is this, — that Peter had more of the king than the father in him ; and that he sacrificed his own son to his views as founder and legislator, and to the in- terest of his nation, which, without this unhappy rigour, would have relapsed into the condition from which he had raised it ; that the sacrifice was not made to a mother-in-law, and the male child he had by her ; for that he had often threatened to disinherit him before Catharine had brought forth that son, the infirmities of whose infancy bespoke him to be short-lived, and who accordingly died soon after; that he was not that weak, timorous prince, as to run such a length purely to humour his wife. " In fine," he says, " on maturely considering this catas- trophe, the humane shudder, and the severe ap- prove."* If Alexis had honestly declared to his father, on his return from Naples, who his advisers were, the Tzar would, in all probability, have kept his solemn but conditional promise ; he did not do this, but pre- varicated, and stated what was not the truth. It was, perhaps, not to be expected, that he should involve his mother and his sister in the list of those who were sure to undergo the most rigorous punishment, though their conduct was highly reprehensible. Among the "bushy beards" was one Dozitheus, bishop of Rostof, who had a revelation from God that Peter had not three months to live ; and he persuaded the weak woman Eudoxia, who with Mary was in the convent of Leesdal, that she should, * Voltaire, in his History of Charles XII., written thirty-eight years before, says, "The death of a son, who deserved cor- rection or disinheritance, would render Peter's memory odious, jf the benefits derived from him by his subjects had not almost $xiade cruelty towards his own nature pardonable.'* Z2 270 MEMOIR OF jointly with the Prince Alexis, ascend the throne. She had assumed the name of Helena on entering the convent, but she now reassumed her proper name, laid aside her religious habit, caused herself to be styled Majesty, and the name of Catharine to be expunged from the liturgy, and adopted the cere- monial dress of the Tzarinas. The bursar of the convent remonstrated with her on these proceed- ings, but Eudoxia haughtily answered, " Peter»chas- tised the Strelitzes for affronting his mother, and my son Alexis will not suffer his to be insulted,"— and immediately she confined the bursar to his cell. Three months had elapsed, and the Tzar was still living, and Eudoxia expostulated with the bishop; " Madam," said he, " this is owing to my father's sins ; he is in purgatory, and has signified this to me." Thus did this artful priest contrive to put off the predicted event from month to month, and to extort money for thousands of requiems to be said to extract his father, piece by piece, out of purga- tory. One Gleboff, an officer, who had an intrigue with the repudiated Tzarina, was employed to cir- culate the prediction, on which, it is said, Alexis went abroad to wait for his father's death. The whole now transpired. The bishop and Gleboff were taken into custody. The princess Mary's let- ters to Dozitheus, and those of Helena to Gleboff, were publicly read before the senate. The princess was confined in the fortress of Schlusselburg, and Eudoxia removed to another convent, where she was kept a close prisoner. The priest and Gleboff, with all the accomplices in this fruitless and super- stitious intrigue, with others who were privy to Alexis' escape, — his confessor, governor, and mar- shal of his court, were put to the torture, and several of them expired under it.* " Thus," says Voltaire, " we see at what a dear * Voltaire. PETER THE GREAT. 271 rate did Peter the Great purchase the happiness which he procured to his people ; how many public and private impediments he had to surmount, in the midst of a long and difficult war ; with enemies abroad, rebels at home ; half his family plotting against him ; the majority of his priests obstinately declaring against his schemes ; almost the whole nation, for a long time, execrating its own happi- ness, of which it had not then a proper sense ; preju- dices to overcome ; discontents to allay ; till, at length, a new generation, formed by his care, should close with those ideas of glory and prosperity which their fathers could not bear." CHAPTER XIII. The Peace of Neustadt — Peter entreated to accept the Titles of Emperor, Great, and Father of his Country — Several new In- stitutions and Manufactories establisned — An Embassy sent to China — Assemblies, or Soirees, instituted — Peter's Mode of Living — Provides for the Succession. The long-continued war between Russia and Swe- den appeared, at length, to be drawing to a close. That arch-intriguer Goertz had concerted a grand plan, which was to reconcile Peter and Charles, drive George I. from the throne of England, and set the Pretender upon it, and to restore Stanislaus to that of Poland. The first hint of this project is sup- posed to have been suggested to Peter when he was last in Holland. Goertz knew that the Tzar had taken offence at Wismar being left to the King of Denmark, which, of right, belonged to the Duke of Mecklenburg, who had married his niece ; and of this feeling he availed himself. It was supposed that the Tzar had an interview with him at the 272 MEMOIR OF Hague, and the King of England remonstrated with him, but Peter satisfied him that it was not true. The plot, however, was laid, and discovered by inter- cepted letters of Goertz in Holland, and Gyllemberg the Swedish minister in London, both of whom, as well as their papers, were seized, one in London the other at Arnheim, and both were kept in confine- ment, like two criminals, for nearly six months. The Tzar was supposed to have listened to his projects, but without appearing to give them much encouragement. He was, however, so far prevailed on as to send General Bruce and Osterman as pleni- potentiaries to the island of Aland, where the con ditions of peace were to be negotiated. In the mean time, the Tzar kept a fleet at sea, which cap- tured the Swedish ships and committed depredations along the whole coast ; but he evinced a willingness to listen to pacific overtures, by assenting to an ex- change of certain officers of high rank, who had long been detained in the two countries as prisoners of war. To the complete success of Goertz's plan, which is not necessary here to be developed, Peter and Charles were required to enter into an offensive alliance, and a large combined army was to be landed in Scotland. Charles was to have the command of this invading force, destined to place the Pretender on the throne of England. Just at this moment, when Goertz and his confede- rates were, as Voltaire says, on the wished-for eve of throwing all Europe into universal confusion, a random shot from the works of Fredrikstadt, in Nor- way, quashed all their projects : Charles the XII. was killed, and Goertz beheaded at Stockholm. The crown of Sweden was transferred to Ulrica Eleo- nora, sister of Charles XII, , who was married a short time before to the hereditary Prince of Hesse. It is said that when Peter heard of the death of Charles, he could not refrain from tears, — that he retired to conceal his weakness, and that, on rejoining the PETER THE GREAT. 273 company, he said, in a mournful tone, " My dear Charles, how much I lament you."* Shortly after the conclusion of these proceedings, on the 6th May, 1719, the Tzar's only remaining son, Peter Petrovitz, who had been declared hereditary prince of Muscovy, departed this life, at the age of five years, to the great grief of his parents, though his sickly constitution held out little or no hope that he would ever arrive at manhood. The affairs of Sweden underwent a complete change by the death of Charles ; instead of uniting with the Tzar against England, the new government was most glad to unite its forces to England against the Tzar. The Swedes were desirous of peace, and hoped that the appearance of a British fleet in the Baltic might be the means of procuring for them a more advantageous one. In the mean time the Tzar kept the sea with a fleet of twelve sail of the line, several frigates and large galleys, of which he was second in command, as vice-admiral under Admiral Apraxin. A smart engagement took place with a Swedish squadron, which ended in the Russians driv- ing them into port, and taking one ship of the line and two frigates. Just at this moment an English fleet, under Sir John Norris, made its appearance in the Baltic for the protection of Sweden. Peter, nothing intimidated, determined to keep the sea; and sent a message to the English admiral, demand- ing, in a peremptory manner, whether he had come merely as a friend to Sweden or as an enemy to Russia. The answer of the admiral was, that he had not yet received any orders to act for or against either power. The fact was, he was sent for no other purpose than to give confidence to Sweden, and thus to enable her probably to secure more ad- vantageous terms of peace. This, however, had not the desired effect. Though the English fleet com- * Staehlin authority ; Wasselowski, privy counsellor. 274 MEMOIR OF mitted no act of hostility, yet its junction with that of Sweden exasperated the Russians, who made dreadful havoc on the coasts of that unfortunate country, burning many thousand houses, and destroy- ing copper and iron-foundries, and other manufactur- ing buildings. On a descent made by them near Vasa, they burnt and destroyed forty villages, con- sisting of above a thousand houses, and spread deso- lation over the whole of that part of the country ; one account states, two towns, twenty-one castles or noblemen's houses, five hundred and thirty-five villages and hamlets, forty wells, sixteen magazines, and nine mines of iron. They destroyed corn and forage, and slew all the cattle and horses that they could not carry off; and to complete the misfortunes of the Swedes, Prince Galitzin attacked and carried four Swedish frigates. The destruction of the Swe- dish copper and iron-works, and the breaking down the mounds that preserved the mines from inunda- tion, making the ruin irretrievable, entailed misery and want on thousands that had subsisted by them. These devastations induced Sweden to demand a suspension of arms, and through the mediation of the Duke of Orleans, regent of France, the long- negotiated reconciliation was brought about ; a con- gress was held at Neustadt or Nystadt, in Finland, and the peace was concluded by ceding for ever to the Tzar all his conquests : thus leaving him sove- reign over Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Carelia, Wy- bourg, and the adjacent islands, and securing to him the dominion of the sea of Finland, which, with the surrounding coasts, he had purchased with the toils and perils of twenty years. The peace of Neu- stadt was signed by his minister Osterman and Gen- eral Bruce, on the 10th September, 1721. By this peace Peter had now attained the summit of his glory. Nothing could surpass the joy which this event shed over the whole of Russia, the intelli- gence of which was forthwith despatched from one PETER THE GREAT. 275 . end of the empire to the other. Orders at the same [ time were sent to set at liberty all the Swedish prisoners in Siberia, and other remote provinces, offering those who might choose to remain the same rank in his army that they held in their own ; re- quiring them only to make their voluntary declara- tion in. presence of the chief Swedish officers, about to return, that it might not afterward be said he had detained them contrary to their will, and the terms of the treaty. The generosity of Peter went so far as to give the strongest testimony, and recom- mendation to those Swedish officers of whose valour and fidelity to their king and country he had been witness ; and the new King of Sweden attended to these testimonials, promoting, among others, Rear- admiral Ehrenschild to the rank of full admiral ; and Peter, on the departure of that gallant officer, with whom he had been personally engaged in combat, made him a present of his picture set with dia- monds. To the reformed Protestants of Riga he granted a church for the public exercise of their religion, which they could never obtain from the Swedish government ; conferring other privileges for the encouragement of foreigners of that com- munion to settle there. He restored to the Livo- hians the privileges they had been deprived of in the two last reigns, for the defence of which the unhappy Patkul may be said to have died a martyr. The Tzar appointed a day of public thanksgiving for the peace, a few days before which he made a communication to the following effect to the senate, " That since it had pleased God to heap on him so many blessings, during the late burdensome and protracted wa;, and to grant a peace so glorious and so advantageous for the whole empire, it was in- cumbent on him, as an act of justice, and in acknow- ledgment of the great mercies he had received, to confer some favour on the nation; he therefore thought it right to direct that a general amnesty 276 MEMOIR OF throughout the empire should be declared, not only for such whose crimes had deserved punishment, but to those who were under sentence ; that all pub- lic debts owing by those who were unable to pay be remitted; that all poor subjects be absolved from all arrears of taxes and imposts due to the treasury, up to the day of the proclamation of the peace." The senate, having hereupon most humbly thanked his Tzarish majesty, in the name of the whole nation, for his paternal clemency and tenderness towards his subjects, 'orders were immediately despatched to set at liberty all persons in confinement in the prisons and the galleys, whether for debts or misdemeanors, or crimes of high-treason ; those of robbery and murder only excepted. The senate, after much deliberation with the heads of the church, came to a resolution that his majesty ? having acquired for the nation. so much glory in the eyes of the whole worlds should be entreated, as a token of acknowledgment on the part of his sub- jects, and after the example of other sovereigns, to accept and adopt the titles of " Peter the Great ? Emperor of all the Russias, and Father of his Coun- try ;" praying him, in the name of all the states in the Russian empire, to permit them to make an offering of these titles for his acceptance, on the day of the celebration of the peace in the great cathedral. His majesty, after a considerable hesi- tation, at last consented ; and, on the day in ques- tion, after divine service, the Archbishop of Pies- cow delivered a speech, in which he enumerated all the glorious exploits of his majesty, and the favours he had heaped on the nation and his subjects during his reign. Then the great chancellor, Count Golof- kin, delivered a similar speech, in which, in the name of all the states of the empire, he humbly entreated the Tzar to accept the above-mentioned titles — stating that the title of Emperor was granted some ages ago to his majesty's illustrious ancestor by the PETER THE GREAT. 277 great Roman emperor Maximilian I.* That the title of Great his majesty had acquired by his heroic deeds ; and, said he, as for the title of Father op his Country, we have thought fit to give it to your majesty, as being our Father, whom God has been pleased to grant us, in his great goodness, without any merit of our own. Then the whole senate thrice repeated, "Long live Peter the Great, Emperor of all the Russias, and Father of his Country /" and the whole assembly i testified their applause, by the sound of trumpets and kettle-drums, and the roar of cannon from the ramparts, the admiralty, and one hundred and j twenty-five galleys, which had arrived the same day, and brought upwards of twenty thousand men who ihad been serving in Finland. In going out of the cathedral, their imperial majesties were saluted with vthe acclamations of the people. They proceeded L'to the hall of the senate-house, where Prince Meh- zikoff and Count Apraxin declared the promotions of several military and naval officers, after which the assembly sat down to table, when more than a thousand persons of both sexes were entertained. The conduits in the street ran with wine ; an ox was roasted whole and stuffed with fowls for the popu- lace, and the night concluded with illuminations and fireworks, The rejoicing continued for fifteen days, during which were held five or six grand masquer- ades, in which the whole court bore a part. The emperor had now leisure to look over those (institutions and establishments which he had set on foot since the year 1718. In that year he entirely new-modelled a general police for the empire ; he commenced several projects for uniting rivers by means of canals ; he prohibited games of chance ! * In the archives of Russia is a despatch, of the date 1514, (ratified with the seal of the Golden Bull, in which Maximilian addresses Vassili Ivanovitch as Kays er imd Herrscher alter Rus* «ie»— Emperor and Ruler of all the Russias.— Coxe, Aa 278 MEMOIR OF which might be called gambling ; he instituted or- phan-houses and a foundling-hospital ; he estab- lished a uniformity of weights and measures ; and endeavoured to settle, contrary to every principle of political economy, the prices of provisions, and a maximum to the luxury of dress : he caused the streets of Petersburg and Moscow to be paved, and cleared of swarms of beggars ; and made several regulations for safety, order, and cleanliness. He took off the restriction of his subjects travelling abroad, but ordered all the young nobility to take their wives with them, to learn and bring back the manners and deportment of the more civilized courts of Europe ; and not only proclaimed certain privi- leges for strangers settling in the country, but gave assurances against any abuse on the part of the natives of such privileges. He established a manufactory of small arms, which he attended frequently in person ; and he encouraged the erection of corn, powder, and saw-mills. He gave bounties to those who undertook the manufac- ture of woollen and linen cloth ; and by this liberal- ity he was soon enabled to clothe his army with home manufactures instead of purchasing them from Berlin and other places in Germany. He erected a board of mines, of which there were abundance, of iron, copper, gold, and silver, in his dominions, the duties of which board were chiefly to ascertain whe- ther the produce would exceed the expense of work- ing them. The foreign trade of Russia with Europe, which had hitherto been carried on at Archangel, was now mostly transferred to Petersburg and Riga ; that with Persia, consisting chiefly of silk, centred at Astracan, and was conducted by the Armenians, whom Peter encouraged to settle there. A trade between Siberia and China had existed, long before the time of Peter the Great, by means of caravans, but it had more than once been interrupted ; the last PETER THE GREAT. 279 time in consequence of some insult committed by the people of the caravans against one of the vicars of the Lama, and even against the Chinese. It was, however, renewed ; and the Emperor Kang-hee, finding his health decline, and imagining that Euro- pean physicians might be as much superior to the Chinese as he had proved European astronomers to be, desired the conductor of the caravan to request the Tzar would send him a physician. Mr. Bell of Antermony, who happened to be at that time at Pe- tersburg, volunteered to go in that capacity, and to accompany Mr. Lange, both of whom have published accounts of their travels. The ambassador was well received; the surgeon found the emperor in good health ; but the caravan, on its return, com- mitted fresh outrages ; which gave such umbrage to the emperor, that Lange, the Russian resident, was sent away from Pekin, together with all the Russian merchants. Peter succeeded in recovering this branch of trade, which was, however, to be confined to the frontiers of the two empires, and none but a certain number of Russians were to be admitted into Pekin. That trade still exists ; and young Rus- sians are sent to Pekin to study the language, the better to conduct the trade on the frontiers ; but while in the capital, they are confined within the walls of their residence. On the Tzar's return to Moscow, he appointed a commission, of which Marshal Weyde was president, to inquire into certain abuses which had crept in during his absence. Among others was a charge . against Prince Gagarin, governor of Siberia, of hav- ing, by means of Tartars, waylaid and robbed his majesty's caravan, coming from China, and killing several of the persons conducting it ; by which Ga- garin had accumulated immense wealth. The proofs produced so clearly established his guilt, that he was committed to the fortress till his majesty's pleasure should be known. The Tzar visited him in 280 MEMOIR OF prison, and told him if he would make a fair con- fession of the whole, he would, on the faith of his royal word, grant him a pardon. He pleaded guilty, and signed a confession which he made in writing. It was read before the senate, in the presence of Gagarin, who, on being asked if he acknowledged the act, said he was innocent of the crime, but that the Tzar had frightened him so much that he was forced to write and sign it against his will. The Tzar, who was present, was confounded, and the senators amazed. The Tzar at last said he should have fair play for his life, and ordered the witnesses against him to be produced, at the head of whom appeared his own secretary, who proved the validity of the charges brought against him. The prince fell on his knees, and confessed he was unworthy of the royal clemency. The Tzar ordered a gallows, as high as Haman's, fifty cubits, to be erected before the senate-house, on which he was hanged, in the presence of the whole of the senators, to many of whom he was related.* In the midst of the weighty matters which fell under his consideration, he was not unmindful of cultivating among his subjects a taste for literature and the fine arts. He sent several young Russians to Holland and Italy, some to be instructed in paint- ing, and others in architecture. On their return the painters embellished several churches, both at Pe- tersburg and Moscow ; and the architects were em- ployed in building churches, and palaces, and other public edifices. Of martial music he was particu- larly fond ; and he attempted to introduce the Italian opera, but that, however, appears to have failed. Scenes like those exhibited on the marriage of his jester, Sotof, seemed, as yet, to be more congenial with the taste of the rude Muscovite. The emperor had frequently endeavoured to bring * Bruce, Mottley, &© PETER THE GREAT. 281 the two sexes more frequently and publicly together, and had in some degree succeeded. He now insti- tuted a regulation by which he should more effectu- ally ensure this intercourse, by soirees or conversa- ziones, which he wisely judged was the first step to smooth down the roughness of, and give a polish to, his untutored countrymen. The regulations them- selves show, insome degree, what the state of society was at that time. 1. A public notice was to be hung out at the house of assembly. 2. The company to assem- ble not sooner than five, nor continue later than ten. 3. The master of the house to find chairs, candles, liquors, and ail necessaries that might be required ; materials, as cards, &c. for gaming ; but not obliged to attend to or wait on his guests. 4. Every one to come and go when he pleases, within the prescribed hours. 5. Every one to sit, walk, play, or converse, just as it suits him ; any breach of etiquette to be punished, by the person committing it emptying the great eagle. 6. Noblemen, officers of state, of the army, and navy, respectable merchants, and ship- builders, with their wives and children, to have lib- erty to frequent these assemblies. A particular place to be assigned to the servants. These soirees are said to have been attended with the happiest effects, though the admission of such a mixed company was sometimes productive of rather awkward situations. The great propensity which the Russians generally had for strong liquors, the ladies as well as gentlemen, was occasionally indulged in to excess, and scenes occurred that would not be tolerated in civilized society. It re- quired time to get rid of this gross indulgence, if it has yet been entirely eradicated ; for it is stated on very competent authority that " intoxication is not disgraceful, — and, even among people of good con- dition, if a lady be overtaken in liquor, it is no sub- ject of reproach ;" they are said to be " friendly, jovial, and courteous ; boast of their friendship, and Aa2 282 MEMOIR OF those that are not able to stand find ready assist* ance from those who can."* Peter in his youth was strongly addicted to the vice of drinking ; but he had, for some years past, given it entirely up. He generally dined alone with Catharine, being waited on by a single page and a lady's maid. He would suffer no footman to remain in the room, except when he entertained company. He is reported to have said to the old Baron Mard- felt, the Prussian envoy, one day at table, " Hire- lings and lackeys never lose sight of their master's mouth : they are spies on all, he says, — misconstrue every thing, and consequently report every thing er- roneously."! The emperor deemed it right to give the inhabit- ants of the ancient capital a repetition of the enter- tainment which had taken place at Petersburg, in celebration of the glorious peace. As introductory to this, he made his triumphal entry into Moscow, at the head of his guards, and passed through four triumphal arches, at each of which he was compli- mented by the several authorities. And as Alexan- der has recorded in the hut where Peter resided at Zaandam, " To a great man nothing is little," the emperor exhibited here many things that to a refined people would appear very trifling ; but he had an object in view and an end to attain in every thing he did. Thus, among the fetes, the balls, the mas- querades, and other diversions, which lasted six weeks, was exhibited a little yacht completely rigged, of beautiful workmanship, splendidly gilt and painted, mounted with twelve small brass guns ; it was placed on a sledge drawn by horses, in which the emperor, the Duke of Holstein, and distinguished officers of the army and navy, to the number of twenty, dressed as seamen, drove for several days * Tooke's Russian Empire. t Staehlin ; authority, Baron Mardfelat's nephew. PETER THE GREAT. 283 through the streets of Moscow, with colours flying-, and a band of martial music ; and on stopping at the house of some one of the great officers of state, where they were to dine, a salute was fired from the brass guns. The inhabitants, who had never seen the sea, were delighted with this show, which gave them a much better idea of what a ship of war was than otherwise they could have conceived, — and so far the emperor's object was answered.* Honest John Bell, whose testimony no one will doubt, and who was present, says, that after the galley came a frigate of sixteen small brass guns, completely rigged, manned with twelve youths, habited like Dutch skippers, in black velvet, who trimmed the sails and performed all the manoeuvres as of a ship at sea. Then followed richly-decorated barges, wherein sat the empress and the ladies of the court. There were also pilot-boats heaving the lead, and above thirty other vessels, pinnaces, wher- ries, &c, each filled with masqueraders in the dresses of different nations. All this was in the month of February, when the ground was covered with snow. The sledge on which the large ship was required above forty horses to draw it. Thus did this ex- traordinary man endeavour to apprize his inland subjects of Moscow, who had an aversion to mari- time affairs, in what a marine consisted, from which they had derived such great advantages.! As Moscow was the residence of great numbers of the ancient boyars, and the head-quarters of the clergy, who had not as yet reconciled themselves to the bold church reforms of the emperor, Peter thought it expedient to repeat, among the various diversions, one of those masquerades, or carnivals, which, by a farcical exaggeration, turned into ridi- cule the bushy-beards, and long coats, and rude cus- toms and ceremonies, to which many of the people * Brace's Memoirs. t Bell's Travels in Russia. 284 MEMOIR OF were still attached. The emperor knew enough of human nature to be convinced that raillery might succeed where severity failed to correct slight abuses and unseemly habits, and that they may be " Touch'd and shamed by ridicule alone." He found it absolutely necessary to restrain the clergy, who, by inculcating old usages and supersti- tious notions, carried the bulk of the people along with them, in opposition t'o his measures of reform. Russia had long been deluged with priests, monks, and nuns. From the first introduction of the Greek church, Muscovy had been a fertile soil for these unproductive drones. In Hackluyt's Collection of Voyages is a descriptive account of this country in verse, by Master George Turbervile, long before the time of Peter, pithy if not poetic, in which the writer says, — ** The cold is rare, the people rude, the prince so full of pride, The realm so stor'd with monks, and nunnes, and priests on every side, — The manners are so Turkie like, the men so full of guile, The women wanton, temples stufft with idols that defile, The seats that sacred ought to be, the customs are so quaint, As if I would describe the whole, I fe are my pen would faint."* In the thinly peopled state of Russia, Peter thought it bad policy to encourage the celibacy of monks and nuns ; and, therefore, to put a stop to young men and women cloistering themselves, in order to live in idleness at the public expense, and contribute nothing to the public good, he ordained that none of either sex should be admitted to a monastic life at a less age than fifty — declaring, as the groundwork of his reformation, that " he should think himself guilty of ingratitude to the Most High if, after having reformed the civil and military orders, he neglected * Hackluyt's Voyage*. PETER THE GREAT. 285 the spiritual." But in appointing himself Head of the church, he did not think it necessary to com- mence deacon, and go through all the gradations of church preferments, as he had done in the army and navy : these required encouragement and example ; but those were considered to want the curb rather than the spur. Having lost his last remaining son and heir, Peter, with the advice of his council, thought it expedient to settle the question of succession ; as the future prosperity of the great empire, which he may be said to have created, depended on the choice of a sovereign who should tread in his steps, and perfect the vast designs which he had commenced, — the main objects of which were, to rescue his people from the barbarous ignorance in which he found them, and to place the Russian empire on an equal- ity with other European nations, in all the acquire- ments of a civilized society. Public notice was there- fore given by sound of trumpet, that all officers, civil and military, and all natural-born subjects inhabiting the capital, should repair to the Kremlin ; and here his majesty's pleasure was signified, that each and every man should swear to bear firm allegiance to the person whom it might please his imperial majesty to declare his successor, and acknowledge that per- son as emperor and sovereign of all the Russias. It was not in the least known on whom the succession was meant to be conferred ; but Bruce, who had to administer the oath throughout one of the parishes, says, "The order struck a damp on the spirits of everybody, when they reflected on the undoubted title of the young Prince Peter, his majesty's grand- son, and only remaining male heir of the imperial , family ; who was as promising and hopeful a young I prince as any of his age could possibly be. This duty," he says, " took me no less than five weeks' i close attendance from daylight in the morning till : late at night by candles : this," he adds, " was to me D2 286 MEMOIR OF the most disagreeable service I ever performed in Russia, as I was so well acquainted with the excel- lent temper and genius of the young prince, having had the honour to teach him the military exercises and fortification, and to whose prejudice this oath was certainly administered."* This, it will be admitted, was a proper feeling on the part of Bruce, who was the young prince's drill- master ; but the views of Peter, and the situation in which the country would be placed, in the event of his death, demanded that he should put himself above all family considerations. By the death of Alexis, who was as weak in intellect as wicked in disposi- tion, the progressive regeneration of Russia was in some degree secured : no focal point was now left for the " bushy beards" and disaffected boyars to rally round ; but Peter knew very well that he had only " scotch'd the snake, not kilPd it ;" and that, without a firm hand to guide the reins, and to watch attentively the movements of the wounded animal, she would " close and be herself again." The same sentiment might occur to him as to a great master of human nature, — " Wo unto the land that is governed by a child !" or, as the Scripture has it, "whose princes are children." * Bruce's Memoirs PETER THE GREAT. 287 CHAPTER XIV. Peter directs his views towards Persia — Failure of the Expedi- tion — Trial and Punishment of certain Delinquents — Celebra tion of the " Little Grandsire," the first germ of the Russian Navy. By the treaty which the Emperor of all the Russias had concluded with the Sublime Porte, and by which he had agreed to abandon Asoph and his establish- ments on the Palus Mceotis, he found himself com- pletely shut out from the navigation and commerceof the Black Sea; which, however, at that time, con- sidering the jealousy and the great power of the Turk, and that he held possession of the whole of the coasts of that sea, could not have been of much importance to the advancement of his commercialprospects. His- fleet, therefore, at Veronitz and on the Don, on which he had expended so much money, had now become of little use. It was not likely, however, that a mind like his y ever on the stretch in looking out for something new, and constantly employed on one scheme or another far the aggrandizement of his empire and the benefit of his subjects, could long remain at rest, now that the country was restored to a state of profound peace. It was very natural, therefore, that his attention should be drawn to- wards the Caspian Sea, on which the Russians, under his father, Alexis Michaelovitch, had followed, for a time, with some perseverance, the steps first pursued by the English adventurous merchants. This trade of the Russians, however, had been ere long annihilated by a rebellion of the Cossacks of the Don ; after which the Persian commerce was 288 MEMOIR OF chiefly carried on at Astracan by Armenian mer- chants. An opportunity now offered, which the emperor was not disposed to neglect, of renewing the inter- course with the coasts of the Caspian Sea. The Shah of Persia, Hussein, who succeeded to the throne in the year 1694, was an indolent and effem- inate prince, who spent the greater part of his time in the seclusion of the haram, while the Tar- tars, the Monguls, and Afghans were laying waste his provinces. At length the Afghan prince, Meer Mahmoud, invaded Persia on one side, with an im- mense army, while the Lesgians, on the other, descending from the mountains of the Caucasus, entered Shirvan, one of its most valuable provinces ; they pillaged the whole country, and took posses- sion of the city of Schamachie, putting the inhabit- ants to the sword, among whom were about three hundred Russians, settled there in trade. Mahmoud carried his conquests to Ispahan, and compelled the Shah to declare him his prime minister, and the pro- tector of Persia. Peter had therefore two powerful motives for turning his attention towards Persia. The first was to inflict vengeance on the Lesgians for the pillage and massacre of his subjects on the western shores of the Caspian, and also to demand satisfaction of the usurper Mahmoud, as the ally of the Usbecks, who had plundered his caravan from China ; and the second was to see how matters stood between Shah Hussein and Mahmoud. But the real and ultimate object of his intended expedition was the establish- ment of an advantageous commerce, the aim and end of all his enterprises. Peter sought not for any extent of dominion. On this very occasion he said to Prince Cantimir, who was talking with him on the ease with which conquests were to be made in Persia, " It is not land that I want, but sea." The Caspian was not unknown to Peter. He had PETER THE GREAT. 289 more than once sent expeditions to sound its waters and survey its coasts ; and he had forwarded to the Royal Academy of Sciences, at Paris, a copy of a chart of these, made under his directions. The avowed object of the first expedition was to dis- cover the mouth of the River Daria, or the Amou- deria, a branch of the Oxus, which now falls into the Sea of Aral, but which it is intimated then fell into the Caspian, its current having been since turned by the Usbecks. Later discoveries have not confirmed this, though it has been thought probable that the shifting of the sandy surface may have given new directions to the streams that now fall into the Sea of Aral. Be that as it may, the Russians had orders to go up towards the source of this river, in order to discover the mines of gold said to exist on its shores. It is stated that those who were sent not only brought back specimens of gold, but found, at a con- siderable distance in the interior, a large stone build- ing, half buried in sand, within which were presses of a hard black wood, containing nearly three thou- sand volumes of books, of which, with great diffi- culty, they were allowed to bring away three, the people considering both the building and the books as sacred monuments. The sheets are stated to re- semble the bark of trees, the characters were in horizontal lines, but whether they were to be read from right to left, or from left to right no one could tell. They were supposed to be Calmuc or Mongul. The Tzar, it seems, considered them as a precious treasure. They found also, in the burying-places of the Calmucs, several small brass statues, among which were one of a Roman general crowned with laurel, two figures of men on horseback, with armour similar to that worn in the West in the twelfth century, and several Indian and Chinese idols, all of which the Tzar placed in his cabinet. This description applies, no doubt, to the ruins of Ourgantz, situated on an ancient branch of the Oxus. Bb 290 MEMOIR OF John Bell, of Antermony, who accompanied Dr. Blumentrost, the emperor's chief physician, on the present Persian expedition, mentions a similar build- ing on the banks of the Irtish, called Sedmij-palatz, or Seven Palaces, several of the rooms of which were filled with scrolls of glazed paper, some black, but mostly white, written in the Calmuc language. Some of these Tartars stated that the building was erected by Tamerlane, others by Gengis-Khan. The Tzar followed up the inquiry as to the ruins of Our- gantz, by sending Prince Bekewitz, with a consider- able number of troops, to visit the eastern shores of the Caspian, and to open a communication with the inhabitants of the intermediate country and Bokhara. The prince, after building a fort, proceeded into the interior, where he was arrested by the na- tives. They carried him to the encampment of the khan of the Turcomans, who received him kindly ; and having suffered greatly on his way thither for want of water, he was persuaded, on his return, to divide his escort into small parties. When they had all departed except the last, with whom was Beke- witz, the Turcomans fell upon them and cut them all to pieces. The rest were murdered in detail, with the exception of a few who had been left to take charge of the fort. The emperor had now, therefore, abundant mo- tives for an expedition to the Caspian, of which he resolved to take the command in person. He had besides received an insulting message from Mah- moud, to whom he had sent an ambassador, and had received, about the same time, repeated entreaties from Shah Hussein, the deposed monarch, implor- ing his majesty's aid against the usurper. His first object was to send down the Wolga to Astracan as many galleys and transports as would carry 30,000 men. John Bell relates that, when the emperor reached Saratoff on the Volga, he appointed an interview PETER THE GREAT. 291 with Ayuka-Khan, king of the Calmucs, who had pitched his tents on the east bank of that river. Ayuka and his queen were invited to dine on board the emperor's galley. He came on horseback, at- tended by his two sons and a troop of about fifty of his officers, all exceedingly well mounted. As he advanced, the emperor went on shore, saluted him, and taking him by the hand, conducted him on board the galley, where he introduced him to the empress, who was seated under an awning on the quarter- deck. The queen soon followed in a covered wheel- machine, attended by her daughter and two ladies and a troop of horsemen. The emperor went through the same ceremony as with the khan, and introduced her to the empress. The khan was a hearty and cheerful old man about seventy ; his queen fifty, — of a decent and cheerful deportment. The emperor inti- mated that he wished for ten thousand of his troops to accompany him into Persia. The khan replied that ten thousand were at his service, but thought five thousand would be quite enough and less inconve- nient ; and he not only gave orders for their march, but they joined the emperor on the shores of the Caspian, at the time and place appointed. u Thus," says John Bell, " this treaty between two mighty monarchs was begun, carried on, and concluded, in less space of time than is usually employed by the plenipotentiaries of our western European monarchs in taking dinner." The empress gave the queen a gold repeating-watch set with diamonds, besides some pieces of brocade and other silks of value.* The preparations being all ready at Astracan, the expedition was joined by the emperor and his con- sort, and on the 18th July, the army, consisting of 33,000 men of those warlike veterans, who had been engaged so long with the Swedes, embarked on board * Bell's Travels in Russia. — It is somewhat remarkable that Bruce never once mentions this highly respectable author and countryman as having formed a part of this expedition, 292 MEMOIR OF two hundred and fifty galleys, attended by thirty-five store and hospital ships, under the command of Ad- miral Apraxin. On sailing down the western coast, one of the divisions lost sight of the admiral, and was obliged to* anchor, having, as Bruce says, " neither pilot nor compass on board ;" an inconve- nience, it seems, under which the greater part of the fleet laboured. While at Bustroff, his majesty re- ceived intelligence from General Waterung that he had burnt and destroyed the capital city of the prov- ince, laid waste the whole country, and carried off all the inhabitants that he could meet with, old and young, of both sexes, amounting to many thousands. Having passed the island of Trenzini, the high mountains of the Caucasus opened out, appearing to hide their heads in the clouds. On the 28th the whole army landed at the mouth of the River Agre- chan, and after much difficulty hauled their galleys up on the shore. Here the Circassian and Daghis- tan Tartars brought their little wagons, horses, camels, and oxen for sale, and knowing the necessity the Russians had for them, they demanded six times their value. In their march to the Sulak, the heat was so intolerable that many of the men dropped by the way. Nor was this all ; Mr. Bell says, " that he observed, among the abundance of grass, great quantities of a certain herb, called Roman worm- wood, which the hungry horses greedily devoured ; and next morning they found about five hundred of them dead, on which the Kalmucs, who had just joined them, feasted for several days." Here the chief of the Daghistan Tartars welcomed his impe- rial majesty into his territories, and promised him all kinds of assistance and refreshments for the army. Such quantities of grapes, melons, pomegranates, and other fruits were brought to the camp, and de- voured by the men so voraciously, as to bring on fevers and fluxes. General Waterung here joined the army, bringing with him the chief of Andreof, PETER THE GREAT. 293 whom the emperor ordered to be hanged the same day. This gave such offence to the people of Da- ghistan, that they determined to make reprisals on the Russians. Accordingly, numbers of armed rnen on horseback were now seen moving along the skirts of the mour- tains. The Tzar, riding along the guards, asked the men if their muskets were loaded ; being answered in the negative, he gave orders to load, and sum- moned the officers of his division to assemble at the head of the grenadier company, " where,' ' says Bruce, " he reprimanded us severely for neglect of duty ; our swords were taken from us and put into a wagon ; the field officers were ordered to march on foot in one rank, the captains formed in three ranks behind them, and every officer was loaded with four heavy muskets on his shoulders. In this posture we marched nearly two hours, in the most intolerable heat, when the empress, being informed of our miserable situation, came up in her chariot with the utmost haste, and pleaded so effectually in our fa- vour, that we were released from our heavy burdens, had our swords restored, and were admitted to kiss his majesty's hand; who told us that he had only punished the officers of his own guards, because they ought to give a good example to all the rest of the army."* It is admitted that Peter never spared himself in this campaign. During the march, he rode generally an English pad, about fourteen hands high, for which he had a particular liking, as it was very tractable and easy to mount ; but he very often walked His dress, when on a march, was a white nightcap, with a plain flapped hat over it, and a short dimity waist- coat ; but when any deputation or chieftain waited on him, he always received them in his regimentals, as colonel of the guards. His abstemiousness was * Brace's Memoirs. Bb2 294 MEMOIR OF proverbial. Mr. Bell says, " about midnight, after a harassing day among the hostile mountaineers, t went into the tent of Mr. Felton, his majesty's principal cook, where he was alone with a large saucepan of warm grout before him, made of buck* wheat with butter, which he told me was the re* mains of their majesties' supper, who ate of nothing else that evening, and who were just gone to bed."* At Tarku, the principal city of Daghistan, Captain Bruce says, " the ladies are incomparably beautiful, both in feature and shape. A great number of those of the highest rank and fashion paid a visit to her majesty in her tent, where they squatted themselves down on their Persian carpets cross-legged. Cath- arine, with her usual kindness, desired that the officers should be admitted to see the ladies, so that when one set had gratified their curiosity they should retire and make way for others. The visit was pro- longed till late, when these fair females got into their close carriages, and were escorted back by torch- light." At Baku and Derbent his majesty was greeted by the governors and the principal citizens, the latter of whom presented him with the keys of their city, offering to admit his troops into the citadel to gar- rison it for the protection of the place, which had long defended itself against the arms of the usurper Mahmoud. Thirteen provision-ships from Astracan arrived at a place ten or twelve miles to the south- ward of Derbent, when a furious storm arose, which drove ashore and beat to pieces the whole of them, burying them entirely in the sand ; but the men were all saved. While the Tzar remained at Derbent he received several messages, — some from the Sophi of Persia, some from the Georgians, and others from the inhabitants of Shamachie, Baku, and Resht, all * Bell's Travels, PETER THE GREAT. 295 Imploring him to march with his army against the usurper, and offering to give up their several cities to him. Just, however, as the army was on the point of marching to the south, a Turkish envoy arrived at the camp, giving information that the Grand Seignior, his master, had taken possession of Shamachie, and that the Porte was surprised his majesty should invade his territories while peace subsisted between them ; the preservation of which rendered it absolutely necessary that he should immediately withdraw his army from that district. There was some justice in this ; and the emperor, who appears not to have weighed well this matter when he undertook the expedition, now saw and admitted that the Turk had reason to complain ; and what was perhaps of greater moment to himself, he considered how rash and impolitic it would be to commence a war with this powerful neighbour, at a moment when he was at so great a distance from his own country with the flower of his army: he resolved therefore to trace backward his steps forth- with, recommending the provinces oppressed by the usurper to put themselves under the protection of the Turks. He was unwilling, however, that this costly expe- dition should be thought nugatory; and therefore, on the return of the army, he ordered a strong fortress and town to be erected at the point where the Agrechan and Sulak divide their waters, to which he gave the name of Swetago-Krest, or Holy Cross ; and this fortress laid the foundation of the future progress of the Russians on the northern side of the Caucasian mountains. Nor did the failure of this expedition induce Peter the Great to give up his views on the Caspian. Bruce, who had wintered at Tzaritzee on the Wolga, was ordered, in April, 1723, to proceed with a small force down the eastern shore of the Caspian, and to survey the gulfs, harbours, and rivers. They 296 MEMOIR OF circumnavigated the whole of the Caspian ; and cm their return by the western coast, Bruce visited the new works and town of Holy Cross, which had increased in wooden houses to such an extent as to afford quarters for the whole of their little army. In the spring of 1724, Bruce arrived at Moscow, and laid his chart of the Caspian before his majesty, who appeared to be much pleased with what had been done.* Whenever the emperor had occasion to be absent from either of his two capitals for any length of time, it would seem to have been his fate, that on his return, the congratulations and rejoicings of his subjects should be mixed up with some dreadful act of severity on his part. Indeed, the whole course of his life may be said to have been a series of sudden transitions from the opposite extremes of mirth and sorrow ; a constant round of vicissitudes, which, not always " happily," compelled him " To steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe." But, with a vigour of mind and body seldom equalled, and never perhaps exceeded, he seems to have set out, from the moment he had sole possession of the throne, with a fixed determination, per fas et nefas, to accomplish one great point, — the regeneration of his country ; and this may be considered, under all the circumstances, as one of the noblest designs that ever entered the head or heart of man. For this he submitted to toil through every condition of life, however laborious ; exposed himself to every hard- ship that the lowest of mankind are subject to, whether by sea or land ; and, invested as he was with supreme and arbitrary power, contented him- self to rise by degrees through every subordinate rank, for the sake of example to others. It is not * Brace's Memoirs. PETER THE GREAT. 297 surprising", then, however much it is to be lamented, that he was sometimes driven to acts of great severity. On the present occasion of his return to Moscow, several offenders of high rank, in official situations, were brought to trial before a competent tribunal, and were sentenced to undergo various punishments, — the knout, the battogues, fine, and imprisonment. Among the delinquents was one whom the emperor could have least suspected, and whose conduct gave him the greatest pain ; a man whom his majesty had raised, for his merit and superior talent, from the humble situation of a clerk in chancery, to be his vice-chancellor and prime minister, — the Baron Schaffiroff. Five different charges were exhibited against him. — 1. That he had conferred oh his brother a title and appointment, unknown to the emperor and the senate. 2. That he had signed and issued certain orders and instruments unknown to the senate, and without having them registered. 3. That in his capacity of the posts, he had, of his own authority, increased the postage of letters, and kept the money to himself. 4. That he had con- cealed two hundred thousand ducats in specie, and to the value of seventy thousand more in jewels, belonging to Prince Gagarin, although he himself had signed the order of the emperor, commanding every one who knew anything of the effects of that criminal to make discovery of them. 5. That he had used opprobrious language to some of the sen- ators, in full senate, which was forbidden on pain of death. Being found guilty of these charges, he was sen- tenced to be beheaded. On the evening preceding the day of execution, public notice of it was pro- claimed by sound of trumpet; in consequence of which an immense crowd was assembled the follow- ing morning before the senate-house, when Baron Schaffiroff was led to the scaffold, accompanied by 298 MEMOIR OF two priests, who had been preparing him for death. His sentence was read aloud, which he heard with great resignation ; and having laid his head on the block, the instant the executioner lifted up the axe, a herald cried out, " Mercy to the criminal for his life, by command of his imperial majesty." On this he was removed from the scaffold and taken back to the prison of Preobrazinski. The emperor, in consideration of his past services, commuted his sentence of death for that of perpetual banishment into Siberia, with confiscation of all his property. Delinquencies of this kind, committed by his trusty servants, occasioned great annoyance to the emperor, who, however, rarely interfered with the sentence of the proper tribunal. In the present instance, the punishment was understood to have been commuted at the solicitation of Catharine, who entertained a high respect for SchaffirorT, a strong proof of which she gave by recalling him from banishment after the death of the emperor. He was, in fact, her principal agent in the business of the Pruth. Mr. Bell, who claims for himself, what has uni- versally been ceded to him, the right of being believed, on the ground that he shall say nothing of fact but what is true, nor any thing of opinion but what is sincere — Mr. Bell says, that " several foreign writers have misrepresented and traduced the real character of Peter the Great, by relating mean stories, most of them without the least ground of truth, whereby many people of good understanding have been misled, and even to this present time look on him to have been a vicious man, and a cruel tyrant, than which nothing could be more the re- verse of his true character." He adds that, many years after his death, he has heard officers talk of their old father Peter the Great, yet he never heard one of them produce a single instance of his having PETER THE GREAT. 299 punished an honest man, or practised severity on any one that had not deserved it.* In the month of March, 1723, the emperor set out for Petersburg, whither the empress and the whole court followed. He had sent notice to the clergy there, previous to his setting out, that he had heard of their treatment of, and disputes with, the mem- bers of the reformed church who had been encour- aged to settle in that capital. He told them that he expected not to be troubled with any grievances or complaints on that score after his arrival ; and that they must know he considered all the Protestant families equally entitled to his protection and be- nevolence with themselves. The emperor had just now a double motive for visiting Petersburg : the one was to found an Im- perial Academy of Sciences ; the other to erect a memorial to the Russian people of the benefits which the nation had acquired by the establishment of a navy. Peter had, no doubt, during his travels, ob- served the advantage of public societies for the pro- motion of literature, and more particularly had in his mind the Academie des Sciences of Paris, of which he was a member. He drew the plan of it himself, which was signed in February, 1724, but did not live to carry it into execution. His decease, however, did not prevent its completion ; which was left to the Empress Catharine, who, on the 1st of August, 1726, honoured the meeting with her pre- sence, when Professor Bulfinger, an eminent Ger- man naturalist, pronounced an oration on the ad- vances made by means of the loadstone and needle for the discovery of the longitude. The empress settled an annual fund of 50007. for the support of the academy; and fifteen members, eminent for learning and talents, were admitted and pensioned, under the title of "professors" in the various * Bell's Travels. 300 MEMOIR OF branches of literature and science. It was strongly patronised in the reigns of Anne and Elizabeth, and Catharine II. fixed it on a durable basis. Expedi- tions were sent out to every part of the world, but to Asia in particular. " In consequence of which," says a recent writer, " perhaps no country can boast, within the space of a few years, such a number of excellent publications on its internal state, natural productions, topography, geography, and history, — on the manners, customs, and languages of the dif- ferent people, — as have issued from the press of the academy."* The next object that engaged the emperor's atten- tion, as may be readily conceived, was the state of the dock-yards and his ships of war; and, after selecting a certain number to be kept in com- mission for practising his seamen in the summer months, as well as to awe the Danes and Swedes, he laid down regulations for preserving the rest of his fleet in a state of ordinary. After this he went down to Cronstadt, hoisted his flag, and set sail, with the ostensible view of threatening Denmark, who had refused to acknowledge his title of em- peror, and to compel her to relinquish the Sound duties on Russian vessels, and also to restore to the Duke of Holstein his possessions, which had been seized in the course of the war ; but the real object was nothing more than that of exercising his fleet in the Gulf of Finland, from which service he re- turned to Petersburg on the 8th August. "Nothing is too little to a great man." In any other sovereign than Peter the Great, several of his actions would be set down as frivolous whims, childish diversions, and ludicrous absurdities ; and even in him they might so be considered, if the whole tenor of his life did not prove that he had a salutary motive in every thing of this kind which he put * Coxe's Travels. PETER THE GREAT. 301 in practice. Of this he now gave a striking in- stance. It may be recollected, as mentioned in the early- part of this Memoir, that the first boat in which Peter set his foot was a little skiff he had accident- ally cast his eye upon, in the river Yausa at Mos- cow, and the first of the kind that was built in Rus- sia, by a Dutch shipwright of the name of Brandt; that, having acquired the management of this boat, he ordered Brandt to build him a larger, and thus proceeding from step to step, he went on building larger and larger until he had acquired a formidable navy of ships of the line. This first little boat was cherished with great care at Moscow, and was named by Peter the " Little Grandsire." It was now transported from Moscow to his new capital, as the more appropriate place for its future preservation. And in order to signalize the event of laying it up, as a monument to posterity, which might remind the Russian people from what a small beginning great things were capable of being accomplished, even in the short space of one man's life, he availed himself of the occasion to give a grand public en- tertainment, to which all the court and foreign min- isters were invited and to be present at The conse- cration of the Little Grandsire. This little skiff, dec- orated for the occasion, was sent down to Cronstadi on the deck of one of the emperor's galleys. Twenty-seven sail of ships of war being anchored in the form of a crescent, the emperor embarked in this boat, as steersman, while Prince Menzikoff and three admirals performed the office of rowers. It was first towed out by two yachts, and made a small circuit in the gulf; and on returning to the view of the fleet, all the ships saluted with all their guns, to the number, as stated in one account, of three thousand ; and on rowing along the concave line of the fleet, every ship in succession struck its colours and fired a salute, which was answered by Cc 302 MEMOIR OF the little skiff by firing three small brass guns to each ship. It was then rowed into the harbour, and a few days afterward was sent up to Peters- burg, where its arrival was solemnized by a grand fete and masquerade upon the water. This memorable little boat of four oars is still held in great veneration, and carefully preserved in a small brick building within the fortress, as a me- morial to future ages of its being the origin of the Russian navy. The consecration of the Little Grandsire, and the solemn procession by which it was afterward conveyed to the fortress, were well calculated to excite the admiration of the people ; and by its being carefully kept, but always exposed to view, to remind them of the condition in which Peter found their marine, and the proud state in which he left it. At this time the fleet, which Peter may be said to have left as a legacy to the Russian nation, consisted, according to the returns of the admiralty, of forty-one ships of the line, in a condition for service at sea, carrying two thousand one hundred and six guns, manned with fourteen thousand nine hundred seamen, besides a proportion- ate number of frigates, galleys, and other smaller craft.* CHAPTER XV. The Coronation of Catharine — Sickness and Death of Peter the Great — His Character and Epitaph. Peter the Great, being now at peace with all the world, determined to give to his people a signal proof of his affection and gratitude for his beloved consort Catharine, by causing her to be solemnly * Scheltema. PETER THE GREAT. 303 crowned as empress, in the ancient city of Moscow — a public mark of esteem, which the whole nation was ready to acknowledge as her due : for what- ever opinions many of the old nobility and the clergy, who adhered to ancient usages, might enter- tain of the emperor's innovations, the conduct of Catharine, under every circumstance of her life, bad gained for her universal esteem. It was the custom of Peter, whenever he was about to under- take any great measure, to assign his reasons for it in a public manifesto. That which he issued on the present occasion sets out with stating, what he observes no one can be ignorant of, that the custom of crowning their spouses was common among many Christian monarchs of the true Greek religion for ages past ; and he cites several instances in which it was done. He then observes, it is well known how much he has exposed his own person and faced the most imminent dangers for the sake of his dear country, in the course of a war of twenty years' duration, which, by the help of God, had now termi- nated in a manner honourable, glorious, and advan- tageous for the Russian empire. And he then goes on to say, " the empress Catharine, our dearest consort, was an important help to us in all these dangers, not in war alone, but in other expeditions, in which she voluntarily accompanied us, serving us with her able counsel, notwithstanding the natural weakness of her sex; more particularly at the bat- tle of the Pruth, where our army was reduced to twenty-two thousand men, while the Turks were two hundred and twenty thousand strong. It was in this desperate circumstance, above all others, that she signalized her zeal, by a courage superior to her sex, as is well known to the whole army throughout the empire. For these reasons, and in virtue of that power which God has given us, we are resolved to honour our spouse with the im- perial crown, in acknowledgment for all her services and fatigues." 304 MEMOIR OP Magnificent preparations were ordered to be made at Moscow for this grand and imposing cere- mony. The foreign ministers were all invited to be present ; and orders were given that all necessary preparations should be made for the conveyance of themselves and their establishments from Peters- burg to Moscow. The Duchess of Courland, daughter of Peter's elder brother, and the Duke of Holstein, his intended son-in-law, were present t at the ceremony. From the descriptions that are given in detail, by various writers, nothing could exceed the magnifi- cence and splendour that appeared in the two cathedrals, and the richness of the dresses and the whole paraphernalia that were exhibited in the pro- cessions. When the assembly were all in their places in the grand cathedral, the Archbishop of Novogorod, advancing towards the empress, re- quested her to repeat aloud the creed of the ortho- dox faith, in the presence of her loyal subjects, which being done, she knelt on a cushion, and re- ceived the archbishop's benediction, who conse- crated her with the sign of the cross, and laying his hands on her, recited a prayer in which he says, " Look down from thy holy dwelling-place on high, and render worthy of thy sacred unction our great and orthodox Empress Catharine Alexowna, whom thou hast chosen to be the sovereign lady and ruler over thy people, and whom thou hast re- deemed by the precious blood of thy only Son. In- vest her with power ; crown her with a precious diadem ; grant her long life ; put the sceptre of sal- vation into her hands ; place her on the throne of justice ; defend her with the armour of the holy spirit ; make her arm strong ; put all infidel nations under her dominion ; let her heart be always in- clined to fear thee, and her will be always obedient to thine ; let her judge thy people righteously, do justice to the afflicted, relieve the children of the PETER THE GREAT. 305 poor ; and let her at last obtain thy heavenly king- dom." In the course of the ceremony, Peter himself robed Catharine in the imperial mantle, and placed the crown on her head ; and when she would have fallen on her knees he raised her ; and at the con- clusion the sceptre and glob** were carried before her. In the procession to the cathedral the em- peror walked before her on foot, as captain of a new company, which he expressly created on that occa- sion, with the name of the Knights of the Empress. The dresses of this company of knights are de- scribed by Bruce as most splendid. In proceeding to the second cathedral, Prince Menzikoff walked immediately behind the empress, supported by two officers of state, each carrying a splendid purse con taining medals of gold and silver, which the prince scattered among the people. At the conclusion of the ceremony a grand entertainment was served up; and balls, masquerades, fireworks and illu- minations were continued for three days. In commemoration of this event, the emperor resolved on a promotion in the army and navy; and though his selection had hitherto always been made solely for merit, and had answered well, on this occasion, for the first time, he wished to have the opinion of the officers on the subjects of his choice, to be declared by a species of ballot. The first on his list was Brigadier Knees Usupof, a major in the guards, for promotion to the rank of major-general. The officers of his regiment entitled to ballot were 84 ; each had three balls, one for or deserving, the second against or undeserving, and the third indi- cating incapacity. The result was, for the first, 23 ; for the second, 32; and for the third, 29. His majesty was utterly confounded, as everybody knew the major to be a most able and gallant officer ; but the result determined him to think no more of that hypocritical system of balloting, being satisfied, Cc 2 306 MEMOIR OF no doubt, as every honest man must be, that it only affords the covert and cowardly means of gratifying", and carrying into practical effect, feelings of envy, hatred, and malice, without the risk of detection. In the same year was celebrated the marriage of the emperor's eldest daughter Anne Petrowna with the Duke of Holstein Gottorp, — a " princess," says Coxe, citing Bassewitz, " of majestic form and ex- pressive features, of an excellent and improved, understanding, and of irreproachable morals. — ' While she was very young, Count Apraxin, a Rus- sian nobleman, paid his addresses to her, but was rejected with scorn. Not daunted with this repulse, he continued his courtship, and, finding her one day alone, threw himself at her feet, offered his sword, and entreated her to put an end to his life and misery. ' Give me the sword,' said the princess, stretching out her hand, * you shall see that the daughter of your emperor has strength and spirit sufficient to rid herself of a wretch who insults her.' The count, apprehending that she might execute her threat, withdrew the sword, and demanded instant pardon ; and as the princess told the story with great humour, he became the derision of the court."* The rejoicings being finished which took place on this occasion, the emperor and court repaired to Petersburg. The emperor's health had for some time been giving way : he had a strangury in the neck of the bladder, which he concealed from his medical attendants, till in the summer of 1724 the symptoms became dangerous and attended with insupportable pain. When at length Dr. Bloumen- trost was made acquainted with the case, he saw at once the danger, and sent express for Dr. Bedloo, a celebrated physician of Moscow ; and Mr. Horn, an English surgeon, was called in to make use of the catheter. Peter, in this condition, was pre- * Coxe's Travels in Russia. PETER THE GREAT. 307 vailed on to keep his room for nearly four months, after which, finding- the pain abated and his strength increased, he gave orders for his yacht to be made ready and brought up the Neva opposite to his palace. He then acquainted Dr. Bloumentrost that he meant to go up to Schlusselburg, and visit the works on lake Ladoga, and ordered him to attend him. The doctor remonstrated in the strongest terms against such an imprudent step, but Peter was resolved; and the doctor, with Mr. Paulson the surgeon, and Liphold the apothecary, embarked to attend him. The voyage commenced the beginning of October, and continued till the 5th of November, not without occasional symptoms of his complaint returning. Feeling himself well enough to remain on the water, and the weather continuing fine, instead of landing, he proceeded to Lachta, on the Gulf of Finland. He had scarcely anchored in port, when a boat full of soldiers and sailors was seen to be dashed on the rocks by the violence of the waves. Peter ordered out one of the small vessels to their assistance ; but, with that ardour and impatience inherent in his character, thinking the men sent did not sufficiently exert themselves, he took to his own boat, but not being able to advance near enough on account of a sand-bank, he waded up to the knees in water to get at the boat that was aground, and by his able assistance effected the safety of the poor people. At night he was seized with a fever and painful inflammation of the abdo- men. He was immediately conveyed to Petersburg", was pronounced dangerously ill, and from that time his old complaint made hasty progress from day to day. In the beginning of December his situation was so alarming, and the symptoms of an inflamma- tion in the intestines and bladder so evident, that a gangrene was appreher ded. Acute and continual pain indicated the empe or's approaching death, to 308 MEMOIR OF which he resigned himself with heroic firmness, and expired on the 28th January, 1725.* Voltaire says, " The burning heat within him kept him almost in a continual delirum. He was once for availing himself of a short interval of ease, by writing ; but the letters were so confused and out of shape that, after much difficulty, only these words in the Russian language could be deciphered, Restore all to . He called for the Princess Ann Petrowna to dictate to her ; but when she presented herself before his bed, he had lost the use of his speech, and soon after fell into an agony, which lasted sixteen hours.' 1 This account is taken from the Memoirs of Count Bassewitz, the minister of the Duke of Holstein, which is not the only improbable story he has amused the world with on the subject of Peter the Great and his family. This in particular is obviously told, in order to insinuate that the emperor's inten- tion was to nominate his daughter Anne, the count's mistress, as his successor— Restore all to — Anne. Indeed, this Holstein minister positively asserts that Peter the Great had formed the resolution of raising her to the throne. In all this there can be no great harm : it may be true or it may be other- wise ; but his object was to vilify Catharine, and to trump up a story to prove that Peter's affections were entirely alienated from the empress some time before his death. The story, as told by Bassewitz and the Austrian envoy, is at variance in many points. Catharine, we are assured, had a handsome young chamber- lain of the name of Moens or Moens de la Croix, whose sister Madame de Bale, or Madame Balke * This account is given by Staehlin, on the authority of Paul- son, surgeon to the court, who died in 1780, aged upwards of 80 years, and may therefore be considered correct ; though it Is said in some accounts that he caught his death by attending the ceremony of the " Benediction of the waters of the Neva." PETER THE GREAT. 309 (for they are not agreed even as to her name) was first lady of the bedchamber according to one, and dresser according to the other, to the empress. The emperor, being suspicious of a secret connexion be- tween Catharine and Moens, left Petersburg on pretence of visiting a villa for a few days, but pri- vately returned to his winter palace in the capital ; from hence, as the story goes, he occasionally sent a confidential page with a complimentary message to the empress, as if he was in the country, with secret orders to observe her motions. From this page's information, the emperor on the third night surprised Catharine in an arbour of the garden with her favourite Moens, while his sister, Madame Balke, was in company with a page upon the watch without the arbour. Peter struck Catharine with his cane, as well as the page, who endeavoured to prevent him from entering the arbour, and then re- tired without uttering a single word. The story would of itself be utterly undeserving of credit, even if every act of Peter's life, and every trait in his character, did not give it the lie. That Peter the Great should appoint a page to be a spy on his wife's infidelity, that he should suffer himself to be bearded by a page, that he should be an eye- witness to his wife's intrigues, and satisfy himself by tapping her on the shoulder with his cane, would be to convert the most determined man in h' em- pire into a mere Jerry Sneak. Then indeed might it with sorrow be said, " How are the mighty fellen !" Had any such discovery taken place, it will scarcely be doubted that, judging from his hasty and passionate character operating on his infirmities, he would either have been thrown into a fit of cata- lepsy, or have run all four through the body in as many seconds. Voltaire's account of the only trans- action which could have given the slightest colour to the calumny, is as follows ; " These two persons" (the Moenses), he says, " might be said to govern the 310 MEMOIR OF empress's household ; an accusation was brought against them for receiving presents, and they were imprisoned and brought to trial ;" he adds that " a prohibition had been issued, so long ago as 1714, forbidding all persons in public employments to take presents, under penalty of infamy and death ; and that this prohibition had been several times renewed. The brother and sister were convicted ; and all who had either purchased or rewarded their services, were named in the sentence, except the Duke of Holstein and his minister Count Bassewitz /" " Per- haps," observes Voltaire, " the presents which this prince made to those who had contributed to bring about his marriage were not looked on as crimi- nal." Moens was sentenced to be beheaded, and his sister to receive eleven strokes with the knout : her two sons, a chamberlain, and a page, were de- graded and sent to the army in Persia, as common soldiers. Voltaire adds, " However shocking these severi- ties appear to us, they were perhaps necessary in a country where the support of the laws seems to re- quire a tremendous rigour. The empress interceded for the lady's pardon, which the emperor refused, and was so offended at the request, that, striking a Venetian pier glass, he said to his consort, ' Thou seest that one blow of my hand can reduce that glass to the dust whence it came.' Catharine, with a look of submissive grief, said, ' Well, you have broken one of the most valuable ornaments of your palace, and do you think it will make it the finer ]' and these words, with the air which accompanied them, appeased the emperor. Yet all the favour which his consort could obtain was, that her dresser should receive only five strokes instead of eleven." Now who is it from whom this story originates ?— M. Bassewitz ; and Voltaire adds, " This is a fact which I should not relate were it not attested by a minister, who was an eyewitness, and who, by his PETER THE GREAT. 311 presents to the brother and sister, perhaps contrib- uted chiefly to their misfortune."* It would be useless now to inquire into the truth of a story so highly improbable ; but Voltaire seems to believe it, because it is told by one who says he was an eye- witness ; but, supposing it to be true, what would be the inference ? why, that the whole story of the garden and the arbour and the page was a mali- cious and " viperous slander," and that Catharine was not only wholly innocent, but utterly uncon- scious of the breath of suspicion having soiled her fair fame. It would prove, first, that a bond fide trial had taken place of the two delinquents belong- ing to her household, on a charge of taking bribes for some unlawful purpose, and that Catharine, with her accustomed benevolence and humanity, was pleading for a mitigation of the punishment of the female ; and secondly, which is more important, it would prove her innocence, — for no human being can possibly imagine that, if guilty, or even accused of infidelity, she would have had the hardihood to plead before her injured husband in behalf of a per- son who had acted the part of a procuress — " the pander to her dishonour." The calumnious story of the garden may therefore be considered to fall to the ground, and as the malicious invention of Count Bassewitz, or of the person from whom he had it. But Count Bassewitz has not done yet. It does not appear, on what day this exhibition of demolish- ing the glass took place; but, according to this minis- ter, on the day subsequent to the execution of the sentence, Peter conveyed Catharine, in an open car- riage, under the gallows to which was nailed the head of Moens : the empress, without changing colour at this dreadful object, exclaimed, " What a pity it is that there is so much corruption among courtiers !" * Voltaire. 312 MEMOIR OF Coxe, who relates this, observes that, " as this event was followed by Peter's death, and as Catharine re- called Madame Balke, she was suspected of shorten- ing the days of her husband by poison. But not- withstanding the critical situation of Catharine at the time of his decease, and her subsequent eleva- tion, this charge is destitute of proof." Mr. Coxe might have added — and of all probability. Voltaire avers that " Catharine had not left his bolster for three nights, and in her arms he expired on the 28th January, about four o'clock in the morning." There is something in the history of this family of Moens which is not very clear. Whether the story told by Mrs. Vigors, the wife of the British resident, confirmed by Bruce, and also by General Gordon, respecting the mistress of Peter, of the same name, has any connexion with the Moenses con- cerned in this transaction, which dates nearly thirty years from the former, there are now no means of knowing; but it maybe remarked that, while it is told in three or four different ways by as many different writers, others who lived at the time, and therefore most likely to be acquainted with what occurred, are wholly silent as to any such transaction, — Nes- tesuranoi, Mottley, Lacombe, Staehlin. It has been revived, however, about two years ago, by a French general, and told in a style so theatrical, and Peter is made to perform the character of Othello in a manner so superlatively ludicrous, as to divest the story of all possible chance of obtaining belief.* It may be supposed that, as soon as the breath was out of the body of Peter, the party, and they who composed it were both numerous and respect- able, which favoured the son of the unfortunate Tzarovitz, would stand forward to urge his claim to the succession, in opposition to Catharine, whose friends loudly declared that the very act of corona- * Histoire de Russia, &c, par Segur. PETER THE GREAT. 313 tion established her claim. In this short conflict it may be remarked, not a syllable was uttered by the opposite party against her loyalty and fidelity to her deceased husband, which they would have been most eager to bring forward on such an occasion, had there existed the slightest suspicion of any improper conduct on her part. There were, indeed, thrown out some vague insinuations, after she mounted the throne, of her having, as Coxe has observed, " short- ened the life of Peter by poison ;" but those reports, says Voltaire, " which were scattered abroad, were the mere opinions of some superficial foreigners" (he might have added, of the secretaries and hang- ers-on of the corps diplomatique), " w r ho without any grounds, wantonly indulged the wretched plea- sure of imputing the worst of crimes to those whose interests they suppose it is to commit them." But, as this author very justly adds, " so far was it from being Catharine's interest that the emperor should be sent out of the world, that his preservation was, of all things, most necessary to her." Catharine in fact had no reason to suppose, at least no public reason could be assigned, that Peter ever intended her for the succession ; it was contended indeed that the very act of coronation implied this, and more particularly as Peter placed the crown himself on her head ; but it does not appear that he ever sig- nified any such intention, or that the coronation con- veyed any right to the succession. There were, be- sides, two heirs to the succession living, his daughter Anne Petrowna, wife to the Duke of Hoistein, and his grandson Peter, the issue of the unfortunate Alexis, both of whom had their partisans, and either of whom had a priority of claim to Catharine. It is plain, therefore, that the life, and not the death of Peter, would be the object of her care and preserva- tion. Menzikoff, who was well aware that no time was to be lost, assembled the friends of Catharine, while Dd 314 MEMOIR OF Peter was on the eve of expiring, removed the trea- sure to the citadel, secured the generals of the guards, and gained over the archbishop of Novogorod. The empress was summoned from the couch of her dying consort, whose last sighs were breathed in her arms, to appear before the senators, the great officers of state, the bishops, and the officers of the army and navy, and delivered a speech before them, after which the air resounded with " Long live the Empress Cath- arine !" — a proclamation was immediately issued announcing her accession : and thus Catharine suc- ceeded to the throne on the very day of her hus- band's demise. The body was removed into the great hall of the palace, followed by the imperial family, the senate, all persons of distinction, and an innumerable train of citizens; it was then laid on abed of state, and every- body admitted to kiss the hand of the deceased till the day of his interment, which was on the 21st March, 1725. On the 15th of the same month died the princess Natalia Petrowna, the emperor's third daughter by Catharine. The funeral obsequies of the father and daughter were performed together with great pomp and solemnity. The character of Peter the Great, as has been shown in the course of this Memoir, was a strange compound of contradictions. Owing to the circum- stances in which he was placed, and the determina- tion to execute the plan he had conceived of re- modelling the customs and institutions of his coun- try, he had to maintain a constant struggle between his good and evil genius. Nothing was too great, nothing too little for his comprehensive mind. The noblest undertakings were mixed with the most farcical amusements ; and the most laudable institu- tions for the benefit and improvement of his subjects were followed by shaving their beards and docking PETER THE GREAT. 315 their skirts; — kind-hearted benevolent, and humane, he set no value on human life. Owing to these, and many other incongruities, his character has neces- sarily been represented in various points of view and in various colours by his biographers. Of him, however, it can scarcely be said, that " The evil which men do, lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones." With the exception of a few foreign writers, who have generally compiled their memoirs from polluted sources, the reverse of the aphorism may be applied to Peter. His memory, among his countrymen, who ought to be the best judges, and of whom he was at once the scourge and the benefactor, is held in the highest veneration, and is consecrated in their his- tory and their public monuments to everlasting fame. The magnificent equestrian statue, erected by Catharine II. ; the waxen figure of Peter in the museum of the academy founded by himself; the dress, the sword, and the hat which he wore at the battle of Pultowa, the last pierced through with a ball ; the horse that he rode in that battle ; the trousers, worstedstockings, shoes, and cap, which he wore at Zaandam, all in the same apartment ; his two favourite dogs, his turning-lathe and tools, with specimens of his workmanship ; the iron bar which he forged with his own hand at Olonitz; the Little Grandsire, so carefully preserved as the first germ of the Russian navy ; and the wooden hut in which he lived while superintending the first foun- dation of Petersburg ; — these, and a thousand other tangible memorials, all preserved with the utmost care, speak in most intelligible language the opinion which the Russians hold of the Father of his Country. The following is transcribed from the History of Peter the Great, by Major-general Gordon, who had many opportunities of knowing personally, and hear- 316 MEMOIR OF ing from others, the leading features of his char- acter : — " Thus died Peter I. Emperor of Russia, who cer- tainly deserved the epithet Great as much as any prince that ever lived. When we consider the method he took to reform his empire ; his drawing the natives, by degrees, into a taste for military affairs, beginning himself at the lowest degree to show example to others ; his travelling into foreign countries to observe the customs and manners of the inhabitants ; his raising, disciplining, and sup- porting such great armies and fleets ; his introducing learning, manufactures, and handicrafts of all kinds; with the great length to which he brought commerce and navigation, things altogether unknown to that people ; the prudent measures he took to weaken and reduce his enemies ; in short, the reforming his country in every particular, as well the ecclesiastical state as the civil, is so extraordinary, that I do not believe, since the creation of the world, ever monarch was at so great pains, or did the like ; and all within the space of thirty years. The great fatigue he underwent, together with his other excesses, short- ened his days. He was severe rather than cruel, never pardoned a malefactor, except those of his own blood, and some few of his greatest favourites. He looked upon some things as crimes, which in other countries are not treated with that severity they deserve, — such as concussion and taking of bribes. His leaving the empire to that once mean woman, Catharine, was a surprise, not only to Rus- sia, but the whole world : yet, considering the great affection and esteem he always had for her, his con- fidence in her prudence and justice, and the many eminent services she had done him, it was the most prudent step he could take, and nothing less than what he ought to have done ; for if he had left the empire to his grandson, Prince Peter, who succeeded her, she and her children had been sent to Siberia, or PETER THE GREAT. 317 some worse place, where she would have ended her days in misery ; the leaving her in possession of the whole was the only means to make her safe. " He was at little or no expense about his person; and by living rather like a private gentleman than a prince, he saved wholly that great expense which other monarchs are at in supporting the grandeur of their courts. He was a lover of company and a man of much humour and pleasantry, exceedingly facetious, and of vast natural parts. He took his bottle heartily, so must all the company ; for when he was merry himself, he loved to see everybody so ; though at the same time he could not endure habitual drinkers. He never kept guards about his person, nor was ever accompanied by above five or six persons, at most. He never could abide cere- mony, but loved to be spoken to frankly and without reserve. To sum up all, his fellow never sat upon that throne ; and I question very much, if ever an- other of so great abilities will succeed him !"* "I viewed," says Coxe, "not without peculiar veneration and awe, the sepulchre which contains the body of Peter I. ; the sternness, or rather the ferocity of whose disposition neither spared age, nor sex, nor the dearest connexions : and who yet, with a strong degree of compunction, was accus- tomed to say, ' I can reform my people, but I can- not reform myself. 5 A royal historian has justly observed of Peter, that he redeemed the cruelties of a tyrant by the virtues of a legislator. We must readily allow that he considerably reformed and civ- ilized his subjects ; that he created a navy, and new- modelled his army ; that he encouraged the arts and sciences, promoted agriculture and commerce, and laid the foundation of Russian grandeur. But, in- stead of exclaiming in the language of panegyric, * Gordon's History of Peter the Great. Dd2 318 MEMOIR OF Erubesce, ars ! Hie vir maximus tibi nihil debuit ; Exulta, Natura ! Hoc stupendium tuum est* — we may, on the contrary, venture to regret that he was not taught the lessons of humanity; that his sublime but unruly genius was not controlled and improved by proper culture ; nor his savage nature corrected and softened by the refinements of art. And if Peter failed in enlightening the mass of his subjects to the full measure of his wishes, the failure was occasioned by his own precipitate temper, by the chimerical idea of introducing the arts and sci- ences by force, and of performing in a moment what can only be the gradual work of time, by violating the established customs of his people, and, in con- tradiction to the dictates of sound policy, requiring an immediate sacrifice of prejudices sanctioned by ages. In a wc-rd, his failure was the failure of a superior genius wandering without a guide ; and the greatest eulogium we can justly offer to his extra- ordinary character is, to allow that his virtues were his own, and his defects those of education and country."! * Blush, Art ! this hero owed thee nothing ; Exult, Nature ! for this prodigy is all thy own. | Travels in Poland, Russia, &c., by W. Coxe, A.M. PETER THE GREAT. 319 Mr. Mottley, in his second edition, has added the following 1 epitaph, which he said he received from his worthy and ingenious friend, Christopher Wyvill, Esq., but does not know whether he was the author of it. E P I T A P H I U M. Hie jacent Reliquiae, vix mortales, Petri Alexowitz Russiarum Imperatoris baud opus est dicere, Honorem enim isti Diademati addidit, non recepit. Taceat Antiquitas, Cedat Alexander, Cedat Caesar ; Se facilem prsebet Victoria Heroum Ductoribus, Milites vinci nescios Jmperantibas; Sed Ille, Qui in morte sola requiescit, Non Famse avidos, Non Bello pentissimos, Non homines Mortem temnentes, Sed Bruta, vixque humani nominis dignos Subditos Invenit ; Etiam hos, compatriis ursis simillimos, et aversantes Expolivit ; Barbaritatis Haereditariae fenebras ille Phoebus Fugavit, Et propria virtute Germanorum Victores vicit. Alii fekcissime Exercitus duxerunt, hie creavit. Erubesce, Ars ! Hie Vir maximus tibi nihil debuit : Exulta, Natura ! Hoc Stupendium tuum est. 320 MEMOIR OF PETER THE GREAT. [translation.] Here lies all that could die of the immortal Peter Alexiovitz ; It is almost superfluous to add, 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 Caesar ; How easy was Victory, to Leaders, who were followed by Heroes, and whose Soldiers felt a noble Disdain to be thought less awake than their General! But He, who in this Place first knew Rest, found Subjects base and unactive, unwarlike, — unlearned, — untractable, neither covetous of Glory, nor liberal 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 • Till, by Force of his invincible Influence, He had taught them to conquer even the Conquerors of Germany! Other Princes have commanded victorious Armifc? This Commander created them ! Blush, O Art ! At a Hero who owed Thee nothing ; Exult, O Nature ! For Thine was this Prodigy. THE END. 3^77-5 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: __„ FEB 2002 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724) 779-2111