Mi c G I L L UNIVER- SITY'—. library MDCCLXXViri. TTtO ZVaS O ■Wbi. 0 ' (•>> '■. \ 7 /iff/Ke •• * 'SfOillTOVl^ ~'^yiMo ttv (in' V' — ^ A AVimn i\^i< ittrSSTA ^ orMOSrOAY- inEimoPE^o^J the S TORY OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE UNDER Peter the Great. Newly tranOated from the French o F M. De VOLTAIRE. I N T > o O L U M E S. V O L U M E I. PUBLISH HIM BY ED FROM A MAN THE CO U R T OF USCRIPT SENT PETERSBURG. LONDON: Sold by A. Millar, J Hodges, D. Midwinter, M. Cooper, and J. and R. Tonson. MDCCLXXVIII. the II I S T O R Y OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE UNDER Peter the Great. Newly tranflated from the French o F M. De VO L T A I R E. IN TWO V O L U CO VOL U M E I. PUBLISHED FROM A MAN HIM BY THE CO U R T OF USCRIPT SENT PETERSBURG. LONDON: Sold by A. Millar, J Hodges, U. Midwinter, M. Cooper, and J. and R. Tonson. MDCCLXXVIII. J .<*><$. ^‘<^^<^■•<^*1^ w y nT *J^ ^ T»f ig t w \w THE CONTENTS. S OME particular circumfiances necejfary to the underjlanding the life of Peter the Greats i The author s prefaigy I The introdu 5 Horii 19 CHAP- I. • I Defcription of RuJJia^ 21 Of Livonia^ 25 Of the government of Revel^ Peterfburgj and Wi^ burgi 26 Archangel f 2 8 Ruffian Lapland. Of the government of Archangel, 29 Mofcow^ i 2 Smolenfkoy 3 ^ Of the government of Novogorcd and Kiowy or the Ukrainey Of the government of Belgorody H^oronitZy and Nifch* gorody ? 9 a X AjlracaUf CONTENTS. j^Jlrncan^ 40 Orembourgs 4 2 Of the government of Cafan and of Great Parmia^ ib. Of thf government of Siberia, oj the SamojedeSy the OJiiacksy Kamtjhatka, 6c. 45 CHAP. II. Continuation of the defcription of Rvffia% poputatioHy fa before Peter the Creaty 55 Oj the title of Czar, Religion, 64 Conclufion of the fate of Ritjfia before Peter the Creaty 70 CHAT. Iir. Ihe anceflors of Peter the Great y 73 Alexis Michaelowitz, the fon of Michaely 77 Eoedor, or Theodore AlexioviitZy til CHAP. IV. John and Peter* Horrible fedition among the Stre- htzesy 84 C H A P, ' V. Adminipration of the princefs Sophia. Extraordi- nary quarrel about religion* A conjpiracys 89 CHAP. CONTENTS. CHAP. VI. The reign of Peter the firjl. Beginning of the grand' reformation^ * CHAP. VII. Congrefs and treaty with the Chine fe^ lo8 CHAP. VIII. Expedition to the Palus Mccotis. Conquejl of Afophet The Czar jends young gentlemen into foreign countries for improvements 1 1 z CHAP. IX, Travels of Peter the Greats j za a CHAP. X. confpiracy punijhed The Strelitzes aholijbedo Changes in cuftoms^ manner Sy/tute^ and churchy 5 CHAP. XI. tVar with Sweden, 7 he battle of Narva^ 14 S CHAP. NTS. XII. Refources after the baitle of Narva. That difaHer entirely repaired. Peter gains a viElory near the fame place. He executes great dcfigns in Ruffia. The perfoHs who was afterwards emprefs^ made prtfoner at the fackmg of a city. Peter's Juc^ ceffes. His triumph at Mof cow ^ IS^ P. XIIL Reformation at Mofcow. New fucceffes Found* ing of Peterfhurg. The Czar takes Narva^ 6c. 167 CHAP. XIV. Peter the Great keeps pojfeffion of all Ingria^ whd/t Charles XII triumphs elfewhere. Rife of Pien^ zikoff. Peterfhurg fecured- The Czar executes’ his defigns.notwithjlanding the viHories of the king of Sweden* *77 P. XV. While Peter is frengthening his conquefls% and improving his dominions ^ his enemy Charles XII. gains feveral battles : gives laws to Poland and Saxony. Auguftus^ not with flanding a victory gained by the Ruffians ^ receives laws from Charles XII. Augujius renounces the crown^ and CONTENTS. and delivers up Patkul the Czar's ambaJTador. murder of Patkul, -who is condemned to be broke vpon the ■wheel. CHAP. XVI. deftgn to fet up a third king in Poland. Charles XU fets out from Saxony -with a flour i/bing ar- my, and paffes through Poland like a conqueror. Cruelties exercifed. ConduH of the Czar. Sue- cefles of Charles XII. "who at length advances to' ^ards Rv/fia. i CHAP. XVII. Charles XII crejfes the Borijihenes^ penetrates tn» to the Ukraine^ but does not concert his mea fares properly One of his armies is defeated by Pe^ ter the Great : he lofes his fupply of provifions and ammunition • advances forward through a defert country. His adventures on the Ukraine. 198 CHAP. XVIII. Battle of Pultowa, no CHAP. XIX. Confequences of the battle of Pultowa. Charles XII. takes refuge among the Turks. Jiuguflus^ whom he had ctethronedy recovers his dominions. Con* qiicjls of Peter the Great, Some particular CIRCUM«;TANCEvS, nccef- fary to the undcrftanding the Life of Peter, the Great. E many ufefu! and furprizin^f enter- ^ T ^ prizes undertaken, and compleated by k/*’**i^ I’ctcr !• none of which had ever entered into the imagination ofanyof his prede- ccflbrs, jufliy intitlcd him to the furname of Great. Before his time, the knowledge of the Huffia^s was wholly confined to thofe eafy arts which are the con- • fequence of mere neceflity. So powerlul is the in- fluence of habit over the bulk of mankind*, and fo little defirous arc they of what they do ndt<:ompre- hend ; the genius expounds kfclf with fo. much difficulty, and is fo cafily difeouraged by the llight- efi obfiacles, that there is the greateft reafon to be- lieve that all nations continued, for m*.ny ages, in a ftatc of the moft profound ignorance, till, at Jafl, "fuch men as Peter the Great arofe, at fuch a peri- od when it was mofi proper they fhould appear. A YOUNG gentleman of Geneva, named Le Fort, happened accidentally to be at Mofeow, with the Danilh ambafD.dor, about the year 1695 cic had learned the Ruffian tongue in a very ffiort time, and fpoke almoft all the European languages. Pe* VoL.I. A ter ii Circumstances concerning ter the Great, who was then nineteen years of age, faw Lc Fort, took a liking to him, empl yed him (irfl: as a fervant, and afterwards admitted him in- to the moft intimate familiarity. From him he learned, that there was another way of living and reigning than that which had always been unhap- pily cftdblifhcd throughout his large empire i and, had it not been for this young gentleman, RufTu had dill continued in its primitive ftate of lude- iicfs and baibanfm. Feter muft have come into the world with a foul truly great, otherwife he never would ^lavc hearkened fo readily to the inilrudions of a ftranger, nor been able to conquer all the prejudices of the prince and of the HnlLan. He foon obferved he bad a nation and an empire to model anew *, but he was poflefled of no means equal to the accom- plifliment of fuch a difficult and ncble undertaking. From that time he came to a rtfolution of depart- ing from his kingdom, and of going, like Prome- thf:us, to borrow the celeftial fire to animate his ci'mpatriois. He w'ent to fearch for this heavenly fpark among the Dutch, who, about three hundred years before, were as ciefiitute of it as the Ruffians (hemfelveS. He could net, however, execute his fthcm.e fo foon as he could have defired. He was obliged to maimain a w'ar a^ainfl the I uik^, or ra- ther againll the Tartars, in 1O96 ; and he did not q iU his realms till he had fubdued his enemies, to go and learn all the arts which were quite unknoun in huffia. Ihe mailer of the largcii empire in the world lived aimoft two years at Amiierdam, and in the m PETER THE GREAT. the village of Saartlam, under the name of Peter IVlichaelifF though commonly called Mr Peter Bas. He ordered his name to be enrolled among the car- pfnt^rs of that famous village, which furnilhed ^hips to almort all f urope. He handled the adze and the compafs; and, after having worked in his fliop at fhlp-fuil ’ing, he ftudied geograprhy, geo- metry, and hilfory. i he croud at firft flocked a- bout him ; but he fonn checked their curiofity, by repelling his impertinent vifiters with a good deal ot haidhnefs an i feverity, which, however, thofe people, fo remarkable for pride and refentment, bore ve y patiently. The Dutch was the firfl language he learned ; he then applied himfelf to the German, which appeared to him a very fmooth and harmo- nious tongue, and whid^ he commanded to be fpokc at his own court. He* acquired likcwifc a little of the Englifh in his voyage to London; but he never undcrtlooJ the French, which hath fiiice become the language of Pete (burg, under the Emprefs Elizabeth, in proportion as the nation has been civilized and po- lifhcd. He was tall ; his countenance was noble and m jeflic, but f.mctimcs disfigured by convuliions, which even altered the features of his face. This detect in his organs was commonly attributed to the cflects of poifon, which was thought to have been given him by his lifter bophia But the real poi- fon was the wine and brandy, in which, confiding too much in the ftrengrh of his conftitution, he ficquciiily iii uiged himfelf to excefs. A a Hb Iv Circumstances concerning He ccnve'-fcd cs freely with a common work- man as with the general of an army. In this he a£\ed not like a barbarian, who makes no dilVir» upon th' point of givinpr the blow j but, unhappily, Le Fort was not always along with him. His journey to Holland, and erp^cially his tafle for the arts, which now began to difplay iifdf, foft- cned his manners a little ; for it is the natural ten- dency of all the arts to render men more tender and fociable. He often breakfafted with a geographer, who made fca-charts with him. He fpent whole days with the celebrated Ruifeh, who firft inyented the art of making thofe curious injections, which have carried anatomy to fuch great perfection, and have freed it from its former naufeoufnefs. Peter gave himfclf, to the age of twenty-two, fuch an e- dnettion at a Dutcls a fon in whom he perceived fome fparks of genius ; and this education was far more than what any cm- peror of Kulfia before him had ever received. At the fame time, he fent the young Mufeovites to tra- vel and improve ihcmfclvcs in all the European na- tions. But his firft attempts of this nature was at- tended with little fuccefs. His new difciplcs did not imitate the example of their maflcr ; there was even one of them that had been fent to Venice, who never came out of his chamber, that fo he might have no cauie to reproach himfclf w'ith having leen any other country than Ruflia. Their priefts infufed into them this ftrong averfion to foreign countries, who allcdged that liavclling was an unpardonable A 3 crime VI Circumstances concerning Crime in a Chriflian, for the fame reafon that the Jews, in the Old reltamcnt, Kad been forbid to af- fume the manners of their neighbours, more rich and more induftrious than thcmfelvcs He left Amrterdam in 1698, and went to Eng- land, not in the charafter of a (hipwright, nor in that of a king, but under the name of a RulHan gentleman who travelled for his inftruciion .He faw and examined every thing. He even went to the Englifh theatre, though he did not underhand the language ; but he found in the playhoufe an aarefs, called MilV. Crofts, from whom he received fomc favours, without having the generofity to make her fortune. King William caufed a convenient houfe to be fitted up for his accommodation, which is a very great compliment in London. Palaces arc not common in "that large ciry ; there you hardly fee any thing but low houfes, with paltry gates, like thofe of our Ihops, without court or garden. In- different as the houfe was, the Czar found it too genteel ; and that he might have the better oppor- tunity of improving himfclf in naval affairs, he took up his lodging in Wapping. He frequently put on a failor’s habit, and made ufe of this difguife to engage numbers of them in his fcrvice* He formed the dcGgn of drawing the Wolga and the Tanais into the fame channel, when he was at l.ondon. He even intended to join the Dwina to thefe two rivers by a canal; and thus to rc-unite the Ocean and the Black and Cafpian Seas. The Englifli whom he carried along with him ferved PETER THE GRE AT. vli him but poorlv in this extcnfivc proje£l ; an i the Turks, who took Afoph from him in 17^2, oppo- fed the execution of fuch an immenfe vwidcrtaking. Happening to run fliort of money at London, the merchants of that city offered him a hundred thoufand crown?, provided he would grant them a , liberty of tranfporting tobacco into RufTia. This was not only a great novelty in Mufeovy, but was even inconfillent with the cflabliHied religion. The Patriarch had excommunicated all that fmoked to- bacco, bccaulc their, enemies, the Turks, fmoked ? and the clergy confidered it as one of the greateft privileges of their order, to hinder the Ruffians from fmoking The Czar, however, accepted the hun- dred thoufand crowns; and undertook to introduce the practice of fmoking even among the clergy themfelves. He likewife refolvcd to make fevcral. othcr alterations in the religious fyllcm. It is commonly a cuflom for fovereigns to make prefents to fuch noble travellers ; and the prefent which King William made to the Czar was a gen^ tccl one, worthy of them both ; he gave him a yacht of twenty five guns, a good failor, gilt like a Ko* man altar, and florcd with provifons of every kind ; and the whole (hip’s crew chearfully coniented that they (liould be included in the prefent. Peter himfelf was the chief pilot in this yacht, and return- ed to i-jollaml to revibt his carpenters. From thence, about the middle of the year i6y8, he went,^o Vienna, where he had no need to flay fo- long as at London, becaufe at the court of the g. vc Leopold there was much more ceremony to be per- A 4 formed. vili Circumstances concerning formed, and far lefs inftrudlion to be acquired. Af- ter having viewed Vienna, he intended to have gone to Venice, and from thence to Rome; but a rebellion, occafj»ned by his abfence, and by the permilTion of fmoking, obliged him immediately to return to Mofeow. The Strclitzes, the ancient troops of the Czars, fomewhat a kin to the Janiffi- rics, as turbulent, as undifeiplined, not fo courage- ous, and as barbarous, were infligaieJ to revolt by lome monks and abbots, half Greeks and half Ruf- fians, vvhoperfuaded them that God was highly pro- voked at the introduaion of tobacco into Mufeovy ; and thus threw the whole realm into a flame about this important quarrel. Peter, who was fully ap- prized of the great power of the monks and Stre- Ilczes, had taken his meafures accordingly. He hud a numerous body of forces, compofed almofl; entirely of foreigners, well difeiplined, well paid, and well armed, and who Imoked under the com- mand of General Gordon, a man who underftood the art of war thoroughly, and no friend to the monks. This was the very point in which the Sul- tan Ofm an had failed, when endeavouring, like Pe- ter, to reform his Janiflaries, and having no power to oppdfe their obftinate difpofition, he was fo far irom being able to reform them, that he loft his life in attempting it. Peter’s armies were now put upon the fame footing with thofe of the other princes of Europe. He employed his Englifti and Dutch carpenters in building (hips at Veronitz, upon the Tanais, four hundred leagues from Mofeow. He ornamented 11 PETER THE GREAT. the towns, provided for their fa^^ety, made his[h- ways five hundred leagues in length, eftablifhed all forts of manufactures ; and, what makes the pro' found ignorance in which the Ruffians were at that time confpicuous, their principal manu'aCture wa that of pins. They now make flowered vel- vets, and gold and filver fluffs at Mofeow. huch mighty thing? may be performed by one man, when he is an abfolute fovereign, and knows how to exert his authority ! The war he carried on againft Charles XU. to recover the provinces which the Swedes had for- merly taken from the Kuffians, notwithftanding the bad fuccefs with which it was at firft attended, dul not prevent him from continuing his reformations both in church and flatc ; and accordingly, at the end of he ordered that the enluing year flionld begin in the month of January, and not in the month of September. The Ruffians, who thought that God had formed the world in^Septem* ber, were amazed to hear that their Czar had pow* cr to alter what God had cftablilhed. This change began with the eighteenth century, and was ufliered in by a grand jubilee, which the Czar appointed by his own authority; for having fiippr flld the digni- ty of the Patriarch, he cxercifcd all the funClions of that office himfclf. It is not true, as is com- monly reported, that he put the Patriarch into the madhoufc of Mofeow. Whenever he had a mind, at once to divert himfelf and inflift punifhmcnt, he ufed to fay to the criminal, “ I make you a fool and the perfon to whom he gave this pretty appella- . A 5 tion, X Circumstances concerning tion, vvtre he even the firO nobleman of the king- dom, was forced to carry a bauble, jacket) and bells, ard to divert the court, in quality of his Czanfh fool. 1 his ta(k» however, he did not im- pofe upon the P.'triarch ; he contented himfclf wdth fimply rupprcfl'ing an employment which ihofc who had enjoyed it had abufed to fuch a degree, that they obliged the emperors to walk before them once a year, holding the bridle of the patriarchal horfe ; a ceremony which the Czar laid afide. In order to have a greater number of fub}t£ls, he refolved to have fewer monks ; and accordingly commanded) that, for the future, no perfon under jfiity years of age fhould be allowed to take the ha- bit of that order; the conitquencc of which w^as, that in his time, of all the countries that contained monks, RufTia contained the fewtft ; but after his deaih, thi.s weed, which he had fo happily extirpat- ed, fprung up afrefli ; owing partly to that natural foible of all monks, the defirc of enlarging their minibeis, and partly to the rfdiculous indulgence of iome governments, in permitting fuch a perni- cious pTuiSticc. He likewife made fome prudent regulations re- lating to the energy, and tending to the reformati- on of their liver, although his own, in all confei- ence, was licentious enough: but be wifely judged, that many thmgs are allowable in a king, that would be extremely indecent in a prielL Before his time the women were always feparated irom the men. In Ruffia it was an unknown thing, that a hufband iliouid ever fee the iaJy he was to marry. The firft acquaint: ncc PETER THE GREAT. xt aac}.iijlntance he contracted with her was at church ; and one of the nuptial prefcnts was a large handful of twigs, which the bridegroom fent to the bride, as a kind of warning, that, on the firft fault, (he had realon to expect a little matrimonial correction. Hufbands might even kill their wives with impu- nity *, but fuch wives as ufurped the fame light over their hufbands were interred alive Peter laid afide the bundle of twigs; prohi- bited the hufbands from killing their wives ; and, in order to match the two (exes with greater pru* dence ond equality, and by that means to make the married (late more happy, he introduced the cuilom of making the men and women cat together, and of prefenting the fuitors to their miltrelTes before the confummaiion of the nuptials. In (liort, he profecuted his falutary fcheraes fo rigoroully and refolutely, that he at .lad edabliflied the focial (late thr(»ughout all his kingdom No one is ignc>rant of the regulation he made for obliging his noblemen and their ladies to hold aflcmhlics, where all tranfgref- fions againd the Ruffian politenels were punifhed, by obliging, the guilty peifon ta drink a large glafs of brandy, fo that the honourable company fre- quently went home very diunk, but little corrccl- cd. But it was a work of no fnvall merit to intro- duce even a kind of imperfect fociety among a peo- ple who had hitherto lived in the mod barbarous manner. He even ventured to exhibit p’ays The princefs Natalia, one of his fiders, wrote fome tra- gedies in the Ruffian .language, not unl'ke thofe of bhakelpeare, in which tyrants and harlequins form Circumstances concerning xii the chief chanifters. The band of mufic was com» pofed of Paiffian fiddles, upon which they played with bulls^ pizzlcs. They have now French co- medies and Italian operas at Peterfburg ; in evety thing, grandeur and tade hath fucceed.ed to barba- rity. One of Peter’s mod diflrcult attempts was to fliorten the coats of his fubjefls, and to make them fliavc their beards. This was the fubjc£l of great murmuring, and of feveral complaints. How it pofllble to teach a whole nation to make their deaths after the German fafhion, and to ufc the lazor ? However difficult the undertaking was, it was at lafl accomplifhed, by placing at the gates of every towm a fufiicient number of tailors and bar- bers ; the former dipped the coats, and the latter fliaved the beards, of all chofc v?ho entered ; ai d fuch as refufed to fubmit to thefe regulations were obliged to pav a fii.c equal to forty pence of our coin. But in a fbort time, the people chufed much rather to part with their beards than their money. The women, who greatly preferred a fmooth to a rough chin, affixed Peter in this reformation : to b in they were obliged for befng exempted from the difciplinc O' the whip, for being indulged with the company of the men, and for having imoother and more decent faces to kifs While Peter amufed himfelf in making thefe reformations, and while he was bulled in a bloody war againll the king of Sweden, he laid, in 1704, the foundations of the large city and harbour of Pcierfburg, in a morafs where there was not before fo much as -a Cnglc hut. He laboured with his own PETER THE GRE \T. Xlll own hands in buildinj; the nrit fioufe j no diflicul* tirs were fufficient to Icffen hi^ ardour t work r»cu were obliged o come from ihc fro^uiers of All.a- can, and from the coad' of the Black and Cafpian Seas, to the coalf of the Baltic. Ab »vc an hun- dred thoufand men peritbed in the undertaking, partly by the fevere labour they were obliged to undergo, and partly bv the want and hardlhlps to which they were expofed ; bat, not withBanding thefe obdruft^ms, the city was at laft raifed. The harbours ot Archangel, of Altracan, and of Vero- nick, were likewife creeled. To def'-ay the expences of executing fuch exren- (ivc projefts, of fapporting fleets in the Baltic Sea, and of maintaining an hundred thoufand regular trv)f>ps, the public revenue, at that time, was only about twenty millions of livres. I have fccn an ex- act account of it, in the poffeirion of a gentleman who had been an ambaflTador at Peterfburg But thr wages of the workmen were proportioned to the wealth of the kingdom. It ought to be remember- ed, that the reclion of the pyramids coil the fo- vercigns of Bgypt nothing but onions. I repeat it again ; we have only to exert our utmoft endea- vours . we can never exert the n enough. AFTtR Peter had created his nation, as it were, he t. ought he might take the liberty ot gratifying hi own humou’, h\ elpoufing his .miilrefs, who ve- ry well deferved to havC him lor a hufband ; and accordingly the marriage was publicly lolcmnizcd, in rh - ye it 171 z. Ibis lady was the famous Ca- therine, originally an orphan, born in the village of Ringcn, xlv Circumstances concerning Ringen, in Efthonia, brought up by a vicar out of mere charity, married to a Idvoniaii foldier, and taken prifoner by a party of the enemy two days af- ter her marriage. She was firit a fervant in the family of Genera! Bauer, and afterwards in that of Menzikoff, who, from a pallry-cook’s hoy, became a prince of the empire, and the firft fiibje£i in the nation. At laft (he was married to Peter the Great, and, after his death, became Emprefs of RufTia ; a dignity to which her excellent virtues and abilities gave her a jud claim. She prodigioufly foftened the harflinefs of her hufband's manners , and faved many more backs from the knout, and many more heads from the axe, than ever General Le Fort had been able to do. She was beloved and revered by the people. A German baron, a mafter of horfe to an abbot of Fulda, would have dildaincd to have taken Catherine for a wife ; but Peter thought, that with him merit did not need to be fet off by a ge- nealogy of thirty-two defeents. Princes arc apt to believe that there is no grandeur but what they con- fer ; and that with them every one are equal Cer- tain it is, biith makes no more difference between one man and another, th ;n between one alt>*s father that carried dung, and another that carried lelics. Education niakes a great difference, talents make a greater, and fortune thegreatefl of all Catherine bad received, from her curate of Eithonia, an edu- cation as good, at lead, as any lady of Mofeow, or of Archangel ; and (he was born with greater abi- lities, and with a more elevated foul, bhc had ma- naged the tamily of General Bauer, and th>c of Prince Prince Menzikoff. though ilie could neither read nor write. Vv hocver is capable to rule a large family, is likevvifc capable to rule a nation I his perhaps may feem to be a paradox ; hut undoubtedly it re- quires the fame ccconomy, the fame wifdom and rc- folurion, to command a hundred perfons, as to command thoufands. Prince Alexis, fon to Peter, who, like him, had efpoufed a Have, and, like him, had privately quitted Mufeovy, had not the fame fuccefs in his two undertakings. He even loft his life in an ill- judged attempt to copy the example of his father. This was one of the moft ftiocking acts of feverity that ever fovereign exercifed: but what lefledts great honour upon the memory of the tmp efs Cathe- rine, file had no hand in the untimely end of this prince, who was fprung from another bed, and who hated every thing that his father loved : Catherrne was never accufed of having a£ted the cruel ftep- mother The great crime of thr unhappy Alexis was, that he was too much a Raffi.in, and that be difapproved of all the noble and illuftrious things which his father had done for the glory and advan* tage of the nation. One day, as he heard fome Mufeovites complain of the hard labour they were obliged to endure in building Peterfburg, “ lake comfoit, (faid he) this city ftiall not ftand long.*’ W hen he ought to have been attending his father, in thofe journeys of five or fix hundred leagues, which the Czar Ircqutntly undertook, he pretended to be fick : the pl yficians purged him fevercly for a dilcafe with winch he was not troubled j and fo xvl Circumstances concerning many medicines, joined to large quantities bran- dy, at once impaired his health and altered his tem- per. He difeovered at firft an inclination to learn- ing ; he underdood geometry and hiilory, and had learned the German language ; but he neither lo- ved war, not would he ftudy the art of it; and this was the fault with which his father chiefly reproach- ed him He had been married in 1711, to the Princefs of Wolfcnbuitle, filter to the Emprefs, the wife of Charles IV. This marriage proved very unhappy ; the Princefs's company was often atuin- doned for debauch of brandy, and for the carcires of one Afrofina, a Finland girl, tall, handfi^me, and agreeable, borne people pretend that the Fnneefs died of lorrow, if, indeed, it can ever be the occa- fion of death ; and that afterwards Alexis married Afrofina privately, in 171^, jull at the time when the Emprefs Catherine was delivered of another fon, at which he was not very well pleafed. The difgult between the father and Ton became every day more inveterate, till at laft, in 1710, Pe- ter threatened to difinherit the Prince, and the lat- ter declared his intention of taking the moiikilh ha- bit. In '717 the Czar refumed his travels, as well from political views, as from the motive of curiofi- ty ; and, accordingly, he now repaired to Fiance. Had his fou been inclined to revolt, had he in re- ality fecured a party in his imcrcit, this was the time to put his feheme in execution ; bus nltv ad of remaining in Ruflia, and gaining j ariitant. he went to travel like nit> lacheri alter having) great PETER THE GREAT. XV li preat difficulty, collc£led a few thoufand ducats, which he privately borrowed. He now threw hini- felf into the arms of the Emperor Charles VI, the brother-in-law of his late fpoufc For fome time he lived incognito at Vienna ; from thence he went to Naples, where he continued very near a whole ye.ir. without either the Czar Peter, or any one in Ruffia, knowing where he was. While the fon lay thus concealed, the father was at Paris, where he \vas treated with all the rc- fpe£t and deference w|iich he had met with in other nations, and with a politcnefs which he could find no where but in France. It he went to fee a ma- nufaftu^e, and was charmed with any pirticular piece of work he was furc to receive it the folio w- ing day in a prcfcnt He went to dine with the Duke d’\ntin at Petitbourg, where the firft thing he faw was his own picture at full length, with the fame drefs which he wore. When he went to fee the royal colle£tion of medals, the minters (truck frveral medals of every kind before him, and pre-^ feiJtcd them to him with great politenefs ; at laft they ftruck one, which they defigncdly dropped at his feet, and left him to take it up; on this he faw hi 'iiclf very elegantly engraved, with thefe words, Peter the Great ; the reverfe was a Fame, with this infcripcion, Vires acquirit eundo ; an al- legory equally juft and flattering to a prince who really encreafed his knowledge by his travels. Upon beholding the tomb and ftatue of , Cardi- nal dc Richlieu, worthy of the perfonage whom it reprefents, Peter difeovered one ol thofc violent tranfports, xvlii Circumstances concerning tranfports, and exprcflcd one of thofe noble fenti- n^enr.**, which none but exalted minds are capable of feeling. He afcendcd the tomb, and embiacing the ftatue, in an extafy exclaimed, Great ftatef- man, why was you not born in my time ? I would have given you one half of my empire, to teach me to rule the other.” A gentleman, poflefled of lefs enthuGafm than Peter, upon hearing, thefe words explained, which were originally pronounced in the KufRan language, remarked, That if he had givtfn him one half of it, he would not have been long able to preferve the other.” After Peter had traverfed France, where eve- rything difpofesthc mind to mildnefs ane clemen- cy, he returned to his own country, and there re- fumed all his former feverity Having, prevailed upon his fon to leave Naples and repair to Peterf* burg, the young Prince was conduced from thence to Mofeow, and brought into the prcience of his father, who immediately deprived him of his right of fucceflion, and made him fign a folemn deed of renunciation, about the latter end of January 1 7 18, in confideratioii of which he promifed not to put him to death. It was not however improbable, that fuch an a£l might one day be reverfed ; in order, therefore, to flrcngthcn it the more, the Czar forgetting his paternal chara£lcr, and conficlcring himfclf only as the founder of a kingdom, which his Ton perhaps might rtplungc into barbarity, caufed a procefs to be openly begun againft this unhappy prince, touching fomc refervations he was fuppofed to hare ma
Alt!- oloi? Tit. 5lfK )t‘C> ie«H )tkj mo:i m iti&i initr wk* lU r A' ICQ* iW too. tk rki im* Iff it rf 12 at€(1 military difciplinc by land and fea, and npenecl a paflagc for all arts into his native country ? 1‘h«s hiQory contains the tranfaclions of his public life, which w-cre ureful ; not tho^e of his pri- vate life, of which we have but few anecdotes, and thofe fufficicnily known It would not become a ftranger to difclofe the fccrets of his clofet, his bed| or his table. If any one could have given fuch a- necdotes, it would have been prince Menzikof, or general Sheremetow, who have be en long intimate- ly acquaintetl with him ; but they have not done* this i therefore all that which is at prefent fupport-- ed but by public reports, is not worthy of credit. Men of fenfe would choofe rather to fee a great man labouring twenty five years for the good of an ex- tenfive empire, than be informed, in a very uncer', tain manner, of the foibles which this great man might have in common with the meaneft of his people. SECT. V. In what relates only to the ftfle, criticif.m, or even the leputation of an author, it is better to let the little tribe of pamphleteers indulge their malignity j for we fiiould become almoh as ridiculous as them, if wc were to fpend time in anfwering them, or c<* ven in reading their produftions : but when wc dif- pute about important ad'airs,it is fometimes neceffary that truth fliould defeend fo low as to confound the faithood of difdainful wretches ; their fcandal ought no more to hinder her from clearing. herfeU, than the B 6 bafenefb 14 PREFACE. bafenefs of a criminal, among the dregs of the people, fliould hinder the courfe of juOice from adting againil him It is by this double reafon then* that we have been obliged to filence that ignorant rafeal, who has corrupted the hiftory of Lewis XIV by note?, as abfurd as fcandalous, in which he brutally infults a branch of the houfe of France, all the houfe of Auftria, and a hundred other illuOrious families in Europe, whofe very anti-chambers are as much unknown to him, as the facts which he has prefumed to falfify. 1 HIS facility of punifhing calumnies, is mif- fortunately, one of the greateft inconveniencies at* tached to the art of printing. Le Vaflbr, a priefl of the oratory, and La Motte, a jefuit ; the one a beggar in England, the other in Holland, both wrote hiftoiy for thesr livelihood. The one choces. It was CIclia who firU in- troduced this falliion. Sarrazin, juft upon the dawn of good tafte, wrote the hiftory of the confpiracy of .dftcin, who had never been concerned in any plot ; he fails not, in drawing the character of that general, whom he had never feen, to tranfl.ite al» nioft all that Salluft has faid of Catalinc, whom that Reman hiftorian had often feen. This is writing, hiftory in an ingenious manner; but he who takes fo much pains to ftiew bis wit, does no more than (hew it ; which is no great matter. Cardinal de Retz might, with propriety, give the characters of the principal perfonages- of his time, as he had been intimately acquainted with them, who bad been either his friends or his ene- mies. He has not painted them, it is true, in tbo^e glaring colours with which Maimb"Urg has embelliftied the romantic hiftories of princes »n paft ages. But was. he a faithful painter ? Did not pafiion, and the love of ftngularity, fometinves guide his pencil ? Ought he, for example, thus to have expreli'ed himfelf in refpeCt to the queen, mother of Lewis XIV ? “ She had as much wit as was fufficient for her to appear fuolifh to the eyes of ** thofe who did not know her: She had more ** fournefs than pride, naore pride than grandeur, more outward (how than reality, more regard to money than, liberality, more liberality than fclf- ** iftinefs, more fcifi bnefs than difmtereftednefs, ^ more ^tachmcct than pafiion, more iniciiiibility than PREFACE. 17 than cruelty, more fup tli n real piety, more huhboiners than Itc^dincfs, and more in- capacity than jf all the reft ** We muft confefs, that the obfeurity of thefe fxpreflions, the multitude of antitheles and co i\pa» ratives, and this burlcfque way of painting, fo un- worthy of hiftory, can never plea and in Ruffia OF RUSSIA. i3 ffoj Ruffia not above five Wc Of the government ./Revel, Petersburg, and Wyburg. More towards the notth is the government of evel and Lfihonia. Revel was built by the Danes in the thirteenth century. The Swedes tvere in ptir IFion of Lllhonia, from the time that this coun- tty put itfcif under the protedion of that crown, in is*'’*- Ihis IS another of the conquells of Peter the Great, On the borders of Efthonia lies the gulph of Fin- land. OF RUSSIA. 27 Ella,, Oill; 0 Wf; 1 llHf onf* \k F::; [ori» Gi: ISifc S* ¥ li £(l ii II* ii tf lanJ. To the eaftward of this fea, and at the junc- tion of the Neva vvith the lake Ladoga, is fituated Peterfburg, the moft modern and bed built city in the whole empire, built by Czar Peter, in fpirc of all the united obQacles which oppofed its founda- tion. This city is fituated on the gulph of lO'onflat, In the midft of nine rivers, by which its diiFcrent quarters arc divided. In the centre of this city is an almoft impregnable caftlc, built on an ifland, formed by the great courfe of the river Neva : feven canals are drawn from the rivers, and waQi the walls of the royal palace of the admiralty, of the dock- yard for the gallies, and of fcveral buildings of ma- mifa*5lorics. Thirty-five great churches help to a- dorn the city ; among which, five are for foreigners, of the Roman Catholic, Calvinift, and Lutheran re- ligions : thefe are as fo many temples eredted for toleratio.i, and as examples to other nations. There are five palaces •, the old one, called the fummer- palace, fituatetl on the river Neva, has a very large and beautiful ftone balullrade, which runs all along the river fide. The new fummer palace near the triumphal gate, is one of the finefi pieces of archi- tedlure in Lurop^ . 1 he admiralty buil^angs, the fchool for cadets, the imperial college, the academy of fciences, the exchange, the merchants warchoulcs, and the dock-yards, are all magnificent firuclnres. The town houfe, the public difpcnfary, where all the vefleis arc made of porcelain, tlie court maga- zines, the foundcry, the r.rrciial, the bridges, the markets, the iquarcs, the barracks lor the horfe and VoL. L C foot 28 THE HISTORY f oot guards, contribute at once to the emhellifhment and of the city, which is faid to contain at pref^nt four hundred thoufand fouls In the envi* rons of this city are fevera! plcafiyre* houfes, whofe magnificence afloniflies all travellers. i h'^re is ne in I articular which has water-works far fupfrior to thofe of Verfailles. 'rhere was nothing of all this in iiciy the whole being then an impafiable mo- rafv'. Peterfbu’g is confidered as the capital of In- gria, a fmall province fubdusd by Peter I. Wy- burg, another of his conxjuefU, and that parr of Fin- land which w’as lofl, and ceded by the Swedes in ly/j'i, makes another government. ARCHANGEL. Higher up mounting towards the north, is the province of Archangel, a country quite new to the fouthern nations of Lurope.^ it took its name from St. Michael ihe Archangel, under who^e pro- teflion it was put long after the Kuirnus had em- braced Chriftiaimy, w hich did not happen till the beginning of the eleventh century : and this pro- vince WuS not known to the other nations of Eu- rope till the n iddle of the fixteenth. 1‘he Eng* li(h, in ic ^ endear ‘U; ing to find oat a north- cad pafTage to the Ead Indies, Chancellor, captain of one of the Ihips equipped for that expedition, difeovered the port of Archangel in me White Sea; at that time it was a dcfe.t place, having only one convent, ai.d a Tmal! clr.'.rch, d-.dicatcd to St iMi- chad the Arch.ingd. Uhe OF RUSSIA* The EngHlh running up the river Dwina, ar- rived at the midland p»rt of the country, and at length at Molcow. ^iere they eafily made them- felves mafters of the Ruflian commerce, which was removed from the city of Novogorod to this fea- porr, which is inacccflide indeed during feveii months in the year ; but, nevertheless, this trade proved more beneficial to the empire, than the fairs of Novogorod, that had fallen to decay in con- fcquence of the wars with Sweden. I he bnglifli obtained the privilege of trading thither without paying any duties ; a manner of trading which is apparently the molt beneficial to alK nations. The Dutch foon came in for a (hare of the traflic to Archangel, then unknown toother nations. Long before this time, the Genoefe and Vene- tians had opened a trade with the Ruffians by the mouth of the I anais or Don, where they had built a town G and arc^ in all probability! not given to jcaloufy. MOSCOW. Ascending the river Dwina from NTorth to South, we proceed up the country till we come to Mofeow, the capital of the empire. This city was long the centre of the RufEan dominions, before they were extended on the fide of China and Per- fia. Moscow, lying in fifty-five degrees and an half north latitude, in a warmer climate! and more fer- tile foil than Peterfburg, is fituared in the micf/l of a large and delightful plain on the river Mofk- wa, oull Ml cEit ik niiB. n\k mb noiix h fWl l(!k( fill i> nliii aiH' b n HI fc Pii* hail' fa- a h O F R U S S I A. 33 . wa, and two lelTcr rivers, which are fwalloweJ up in the Occa, and afterwards run into the Wolga. This city, in the thirteenth century, confided only of fmall huts, peopled by a let of iniferable wretches, oppreffe I by the defcemlants of Gengis-Khan. The Kremlin, which was the refiJence of the great dukes, was not built till the fourteenth cen- tury ; of fo little antiquity are the cities in this part of the world. This palace was conftruaed by I- talian architefts, as were feveral churches in the Gothic tallc, which then prevailed throughout all Europe. There are two built by the famous Ari- ftotle of Bologna, who flourifhed in the fifteenth century i but the houfes of the common people were no better than wooden huts. The firll writer who gives us any information of Mofeow, was Olearius j who, in i6;j3, went thither as the companion of an embafly from the duke of Hciacin. And was prodigioufly llruck with wonder at the immenfc extent of ttic city ot Mofeow, with its five inclofurcs, particularly -the magnificent one belonging to the czars, and with the Afiatic fplcndor which then reigned at that court. There was nothing equal to it in Germany at that time, nor any city near fo cxteiifive or well peopled. On the contrary, the Earl ot Carliflc, who was Ambaflador from Charles 11 . to the czar Alexis, in 160^, complains in his account, that he could not meet with any one comfort ot life in Moicow ; no inns on the road, nor retrelbmcnts of any kiml, One judged as a German, the other as an Englifh- C 4 THE HISTORY 34 man, and both by comparifon. The Englidimao was (hocked to obferve that moft of the Boyars, or Mufcovitc nobleoien, dept upon boards or benches^ with only the fltins of animals under them; but this was the ancient pra£ticeof all nations. Their houfes were almoft all built of wood, had fcarccly any fur- niture*, few or none of their tables were covered with linen *, there the flreets not paved ; nothing a- greeible; nothing convenient; very few artificers, and thefe few extremely rude, and employed only in works of abfolut^ necelFity. Thefe people might hav" paired for Spartans, had they been foher. Bu T on days of ceremony, the court difplays all the fplendour of a Perfian monarch. The earl fays, he could fee nothing but gold and jewels on the robes of the czar and his courtiers. Thefe drelTes were not manufadtured in the country ; and yet it is evident, that the court might have been the means of making the people induftrious long be- fore that time. In the reign of the czar Boris Go- cionow, the largcft bell in Europe was call at Mof- cow; and in the patriarchal church, there were feveral ornaments of filter, of curious %vorkraan- fliip; but thefe works, which were made under the diredlion of Germans and Italians, were only tran- fient efibrts. It is daily induftry, and the conftant pradlice of a great number of arts, that makes a flourifhing nation. Poland, and the neighbouring nations, were at that time very little fuperior to the Ruffians. The handicraft trades had not arrived to greater pcrfedlion in the north of Germany, nor were were the fine arts much better known than In the middle of the fevcnteenth century. 1 HODGH the city of Mofcow, at that time, had neither the magnificence nor arts of our great cities in liurope ^ yet its circumference of twenty miles; the part called the Chinefe town, where all the cu- riofities of China are exhibited; the fpacious quarter of the Kremlin, where flood the palace of the czars; the gilded domes, the lofty and furprifing towers ; and, in fine, the prodigious number of its inhabi- tants, amounting to near five hundred thoufand: all this makes Mofcow one of the molt confiderable cities in the world. Theodore, or Foedor, the cldeft brother to Peter the Great, began to embellifli Mofcow, He caufed fcveral large houfes to be built of ftone, though without any regular architedture. He encouraged the principal nobility of his court to build, ad- vancing them money, and furnifhing them with materials. He was the firft who encouraged the breed of fine horfes, and rr.adc feveral other fine and ufcful cmbellifhments. Peter, who was atten- tive to every improvement, took care not to negle<3: Mofcow at the time he was building Peterfburg ; for he caufed it to be paved, adorned it with noble buildings, and enriched it with manufactures ; and within thefe few years, Mr. de Showalow, high Chamberlain to the emprefs Elizabeth, daughter to Peter the Great, has founded an univcrfity in this city. This is the fame perfon who furniflicd me with the materials, from which I have compiled the prefent hiftory, and who was himfclf much more C 5 capable THE HISTORY 3 ^ capable to have wrote It, even in the French Ian* guage, bad not his great modefty made him give up i^»c tafk to me as will evidently appear from his own letters on this iubjeft, which 1 have depofited in the public library ot Geneva. SMOLENSK O. Westward of the Duchy of Mofcow, is that of Smolenlko, a part of the ancient barmatia Eu- ropea. The duchies of Mofcow and Smolenflco compofed what is properly called White RufTia. Smolenflco, which at firft belonged to the great dukes of Ruflia, was conquered by the great duke of Lithuania, in the beginning of the fifteenth cen- tury, and was recovered one hundred years after- wards by its former kings. Sigifmund 111 king of Poland, took poffi fTion of it in i6ii. The czar A- lexis, father to Pcier I. retook it again in 16C5. fince which time it has always made a part of the UuflSan empire. The eulogium of Peter the Great, pronounced in the academy of fciences at Paris, takes notice, that before this time the Ruffians had made no cor quefts either to the Well or South ; but this is certainly a mifiakc. Of the government of N0V060ROD tfwiKiow, or the Ukraine. Between Pcteifburg and Smolenflco, lies the province of Novogoiod \ a country in which the ancient ancient Slavic or Sclavonians, made their firft fet- tlements. But from whence came thefe Slavic whole language has fpread over all the north eaffc part of hurope? Sia fignifies a chief, and Slavs one belonging, to a chief. All that we know con- cerning thofe ancient Slavic is, that they were a race of conquerors; that they built the city of :\o- vognrod the Great, Giuated on a navigable river ; that this city was for a long time in poflcfTion of a fLourifhing trade, and was a potent ally of the Hanfe towns. The czar, John Bafilowitz, made a conqueft of it in 1467, and carried away all its riches, which contributed to the magnificence of the court of Mofeow, which till that time was al- moft unknown. To the fouth of the province of Smolenfko, we meet with the province of Kiow, otherwife called the Leffer RuITia, Ked Ruffia, or the Ukraine, through which runs the Dneiper, called by the Greeks the Borifthenes. The difference of thefe two words, the one harfli to pronounce, and the other melodious, fhew us^, among . an hand^e^i o- ther proo's^ the rudenefs of ail the ancient people of the north, in comparifon of the gr^ccb of the Greek language. Kiow, the capital city, formerly Krlbw, was Jouiidcd by the emperors of Conftanti- nople, who made it a colony : here are Hill fcveral Greek imeriptions, of upwards of one thomand two hundred years ftanding, very legible. Thi-j, is the only city of any antiquity in thefe countries, where- in the inhabitants have lived lo long together with- out building . walls. It was here that the great C 6 dukes T H E- H I S T O R Y dulces of RiifTia held their rcfidence in the eleventh century, before the Tartars fubdued Ruffia. The inhabitants of the Ukraine, called Coflacks, are a mixture of the ancient Roxolanians, Sarma- tians and Tartars. Rome and Conflantinople, though fo long the miftrefles of other nations, are not to be compared in fertility with the Ukraine. Nature has there exerted her utmoft efforts for the fervice of the inhabitants ; but they have not im- proved thofe efforts by induftry, living only upon the fpontaneous produftions of that fruitful uncub tivated foil, and the pradice of robbery. i hough fond to excefs of that moft valuable of all bleflings, liberty ; yet they were always in flavery, either to the Roles or the Turks, till the year 1654, when they fubmitted themfclves to the arms of Ruflia, but with fome particular privileges. At lenj;th they were entirely fubdued by Peter the Great. Other nations arc divided into cities and towns; this into ten regiments. At the head of which is a chief, who is ufed to be cleded by the majority of votes, and is called by the name of Hetman or Rman. This captain of the nation has not the fupreme power. At prefent the Itman is a perfon nominated by the fovereign, from among the chief of the nobility 5 and is, in fad, no more than the governor of the province, like governors of the Pays d'Etats in France, that have retained fome privileges. For merly the inhabitants of this country were all either Pagans or Mahometans; but when they entered into the fcrvicc of Poland, they were bap- tifed OF H IT S S r A. 39 tifefi Chriftrant of the Roman communion ; and row, as they are in the fcrvice of Kuflla, they prac\ile the rlle^ of the Greek church. A MONGST thefc are comprifed the Z poravian Cofitcks, who ar much the fame as our Bucca- neers, or Freebooters, de!pe-ate fellows, livmi; up- ^ on rapine. They are diiiitiguilhed from all other people, b\ never admitiiiig women to live among them ; as the Amazons arc faid never to have ad- If? mitted any man The women, whom they ufe for propagation, dwell upon other ill nds on the lb river ; they have no marriages amongft them, nor ki| any domeflic ceconomy i they inrol the male chil- iilr dren in their army, and leave the girls to the care ,K of their mothers. Often a brother has children by la his fifter, and a father by his daughter. I hey know lof no other laws than cuftoms introduced by neceffi- ft ty ; however, they make ufe of fome prayers from Bl the Greek ritual. Fort St. Elizabeth hat been latc- Ift ly built on the Borifthenes, to keep them in fub- ii; jcaitn. They ferve as irregulars in the RulTian B armies, and woe be to thofe who fall into their ill, hands. u ^ Of the government of Belgorod, Woronitz, and Nischgorod. flS« To the north -eaft of the province of Kiow, be- tween the Borillhcnes and theTanais, or the Don, is the government of Belgorod, which is as large ^ as that of Kiow. This is one of the moft fertile ^ province* ci 40 THE HISTORY provinces of Ruflla, and fiwnifhes Poland with.a prodigious number of thofe large cattle, known by the name of the Ukraine oxen. Thelc two pro- vince? are protefled from the incurfions of the fmall Tartar tribes, by lines extending from the Borili- hcncs to th-e Tanais, and well furnillied with forts and redoubts. Ascending northward we crofs the Tanais, and come into the government of Worownitz or Veronife, which extends to the banks of the Pdlus Maeotis. In the neighbourhood of the capital of Veronife, which is called by -the Ruffians, Woro- nefteh, at the mouth of the river of the fame name, which falls into the Tanais, Peter the Great built his firft fleet ; an undertaking which at that time was aftoniffiing to the inhabitants of thefe vafl do- minions. From thence we come to the govern- ment of Nifehgorod, abounding with .gram, aad watered by the river W'olga. A S T R A C A N. From the latter province we proceed fouth ward to the kingdom of Aftracan. I'his country ex- tends from forty three and a half degrees north la- titude, in a mofl delightful climate, to near fi/ty, including as n;any degrees of longitude, as of lati- tude. It is bounded on one fide by the Cafpian fca, and on the other by the mountains of Circaf- fia, ftretchmg beyond the Cafpian, along mount Caucafus. It is watered by the great river Wolga, - . the OF RUSSIA. 41 the Jaic, and feveral other leffer ftreams, between which, according to Mr. Perry, the Englidi engi- neer, canals might be cut that would lerve as re- fervoirs to receive the overflowing of the waters ; and by that means anfwer the fame purpofes as the canals of the Nile, and greatly improve the ferti- lity of the foilj but to the right and left of the W^olga and Jaic, this fine country was inhabited, or rather infeiled, by Tartars, who never improved the land, but have always lived as flrangcrs and vaga- bonds in this part of the world. Perry the engineer, who was employed by Pe- ter the Great in thefe parts, found thefe defarts co- vered with pafiure, pulfe, cherry and almond trces> and large flocks of wild fheep, who fed in thefe de- farts, and whofe flefh was molt excellent. The in- habitants of theic countries mult be lubdued and civilized, in ordci to fccond the efforts of nature, which has been forced in the climate of Peterfburg. The kingdom of Aftracan is a part of the anci- ent Caplhak, conquered by Gengis-Khan, and af- terwards by Tamerlane, whofe dominions reached as tar as Mofeow. i he cz^r Jonn Bafilides, grand- fon of John Bafilowitz, and the. greateft conqueror of all the Kulfian princes, delivered this country from the Tartarian yoke, in the fixteenth century, and added the kingdom of Aftracan to his other conqueil'i in 1554* Astkacan is the boundary of Afia and Europe, and irom itb lituation is convenient to cany on a trade with both, as merchandifes may be conveyed from the Calpian fea, up to this town, by means of the 42 THE HISTORY the Wolga. This vvas one of the grand fchcmcs of Pete the Great, and has been partly carried into execucion. A whole fuburb of Aifracan is inha« bleed by Indians. O R E M B O U R G. To the fouth-eaft of the kingdom of Aft ra can, 18 a fmall country newly planted, called Orembourg. The town of this name was built in the year 1734, on the banks of the river Jaic. This province is covered with the branches of mount Caucafus The paftes in thefe mountains, and of the rivers that run down from them, are defended by forts raifed at equal diftances. In this country, which was formerly uninhabited, the Perfians come at prefent to hide, from robbers fuch of their effefts as they have faved from the fury of the civil wars. So that the city of Orembourg is become the afylu.ni of the Perfians and their riches, and is grown con- ftdetable by their calamities. The natives of Great Bukari come hither to trade, fo that it is become the ftaple of AGa. Of ihe government of Casjin, end of Gheit Permia. Beyond the Wolga and Jaic, towards the north, lies the kingdom of Cafan, which, like that of A- ftracan, icll by partition to one of the fons of Gengis* O F R U S S I A. 43 Gengis-Khan, and afterwards to a Ton of Tamcr^ ^ lane, and was at length conquered by John Bafili- des. It is ftill inhabited by a number of Mahome- tan Tartars. This vaft country extends as far as Siberia : it is evident it was formerly very flourifli- ing and rich, and ftill preferves fome pan of its pri- nine opulence. A province of this kingdom, call- ed Great Permia, and fince Solikam, was the ftaple ^ of the merchandifes of Perlia, and the furs of Tar* ^ tary. There has been found in Permia a large ‘II* quantity of the coin of the full Caliphs, and fome “ golden idols, belonging to the Tartars but thefc ■ monuments of ancient riches were found in the midft of barren defarts and Extreme poverty, where « there were not the leaft traces of any traffick ; re- volutions of this kind may eaiily happen in a bar- - ren country, feeing they fo often happen in the moft fruitful kingdoms. , I The famous Swedifh prifoner Strahlcmberg, who fe made fo good an ufe of his misfortunes, and who \2 examined thofe vaft countries with fo much atten- b tion, was the firft who gave an air of probability to X a fa£t, which before had been always deemed incre- dible ; namely, concerning the ancient commerce of thefe provinces. Pliny and Pomponius Mela rclare, that, in the reign of Auguftus, a king of Sucivi U' made a prefent to Mctelliu Celer of fome Indians who had been caft by a ftorm on the coafts border- ing on the Elbe. But how could inhabitants of in- ^ dia navigate the Germanic fcas ? This adventure • Memoirs of Strahlcmberg, confirmed by thofe fent me from Raf- fia. was 44 THE HISTORY I was deemed fabulous by the difcovery of the Cape I of Good Hope. But formerly it was no more ex- traordinary to fee an Indian trading to the north- weft of his country, than to fee a Rbman go from India by the way of Arabia. The Indians went to Perfia, and thence embarked on the fea of Hyrca- nia, and afeending the Rha, now the Wolga, got to the Great Permia through the river Kama ; from whence they might imbark again on the Black fea, or the Baltic. They have, in all times, been enter* prifing men. The Tyrians undertook mod furpri- i Cng voyages. U If after furveying all thefe vaft provinces, we di* reft our eye towards the eaft, we (hall find the li- mits of Europe and Afia again confounded. A new name (hould be given to this confiderable part of the globe. The ancients divided their known world into Europe, Afia, and Africa; but they had I not fecn the tenth part of it : hence it happens, I that when we pafs the Palus Maeotis, we no longer ! know where Europe ends, or Afia begins; all that tra£l of country lying beyond rrouiu Taurus was diftinguitlicd by the general appellation of Bcythia, and afterwards by that of Partary. It might not be improper, perhaps, to give the name of Ter/x Arclicae, or Northern Lands, to that part of the globe extending from the Baltic fea to the confines of China; as that of Terra Aullralis, or Southern Lands, are to that equally extcnfivc part of the world, fituated under the Antardic Pole, and which ferves to couiuerpoife the globe. 0 / OF RUSSIA. 4 S ct, K pr «c k 11 ;; k 3 ! il- 3(1 lid ni' ifB [lie If V. 113 5 ? [!l 9 )ii [« 9f the government of Siberia, of the SamojedE3| the OsTiAKs, Kaxitshatka, Siberia, with the territories beyond it, extends from the frontiers of the provinces of Archangel, Reran, and A(lracan, eaflward as far as the Tea of Japan. It joins the fouthern parts of Ruflia by mount Caucafus •, from thence, to the country of Kamtihatka, is about one thoufand two hundred computed French leagues ; and from fouthern far- tary, which ferves as its boundary to the Fiozen fea^ about four hundred, which is the lead breadth of the Ruffian empire This country produces the richefl furs ; to which its difeovery was owing ia the year 1563* In the Cxtcenth century, in the reign of the czar John BAGIidcs, and not in that of Foedor Johanno- witz, a private perfon in the neighbourhood of Archangel, named Anika, one tolerably rich for his condition of life and country, took notice, that men of an extraordinary figure, and dreffed in a manner unknown to that country, and who fpokc a language underftood by no body but themfelves, came every year down a river \vhich falls into the Dwina j:, and brought martens and black foxes, which they exchanged for nails and pieces of glafs; juft as the firft favages of America ufed to truck their gold with the Spaniards : he ordered them to be lollowed by his fons and fervants, as iar as their t Memoirs fent from Petersburg, own 46 THE HISTORY own country. Thefe were the Samojedes, a people who feem to rcfembic the Laplanders, but arc of a different race. They arc, like that nation, unac- quainted with the ufc of bread j and like them, they yoke rein deer to draw their Hedges. They live in caverns and huts amidft the fnow * but nature in other refpc£fs, has made a vifible difference between thefe fort of men and the Laplanders. Their up- per jaw projffts forward, fo as to be on a level with their nofe, and their ears are higher. Both the men and the women have no hair but on their heads; and their nipple is as black as ebony. The Lap* landers are diitinguiQied by no fuch marks. By memoirs fent me from thefe unknown countries, I 'have been informed, that the author of the natural hillory of the king’s garden, is miflaken, where, in fpeaking of many curiofitics in human nature, he confounds the Lapland race with that of the Sa- mojedes. There arc many more different kinds of men than is commonly thought. The Samojedes, and the Hottentots, feem to be the two extremes of our continent; and if we obferve the black nipples of the Samojedian women, and the apron with which nature has furnifhed the Hottentot women, and which hangs half way down their thighs, we {hall have fomc idea of the great variety of our a* nimal fpecies : a variety unknown to thole inhabit- ing great cities, who are generally Itrangers to al- moft every thing which is not immediately within their view. • JMcraoirs fent from ?ctcrsbur?. The OF RUSSIA. M fa,; nj m ei Ik b* b hi c itsi I, If n 913 [b UR «i: di M P [I (55 fiJ 47 The Samojedes arc as fingular in, their moral as in their natural diftin£lions; they pay no worihip to the fuprcme being ; they border upon Mani- cheifm, or rather upon the icliglon of the ancient Magi in this article, that they acknowledge a good and an evil principle. The hoi r blc climate they inhabit may in fomc meafure cxcufe this belief, which is fo natural to thofe who are ignorant and miferable. Murder or theft is never heard of amongfl them *, being in a manner void of p^fTions, they are ftiangcrs to injullice ; there is no term in their language to denote vice and virtue ; their extreme fimplicity has not yet permitted them to form ab- ftraft ideas ; they are wholly guided by fenfation ; and this is perhaps an inconteftibic proof that men arc naturally torn! of juilicc, when not blinded by inordinate pafiions. Some of thefe favages were prevailed on to come to M. fcow, where many things they faw Oruck them with admiration. They lor>ked upon the em- peror as their God, and voluntarily engaged to pay for themfclves and each countryrrjan two martens or fables every year. Colonies were foon fixed be- yond the Oby and the Irtis f , and fome forts builr. In the year 159s ^ Coifack officer was fent into this country, who conquered it for the Czar with only a few troops and fome artillery, as Coitrz did Mexico; but he only made a conquell of barren de farts. Ii I In the Rudlan Loguige Irlirch, Im 48 THF. HISTORY In running up the (^by to the jun£lion of the river Irtis with the TohoU they tound a little fet- tlcnnent, w’hich is now the town of ’’obol §, and capital of Siberia, a verv confidf rable place. Who could imagine that thi^ country was for a longtime the abode of thofe very liuns, who under Attila carried their depredations as far as the gates of Rome, and that thefc Huns came from the north of China ? The Ufbeck Tartars fucceeded the Huns, and the RefTuns the Ufbccks. The pofiVflion of thefc favage lands has been difputcd with as much favage fury, as that of the mo(i fertile provinces. Siberia was formerly more populous than it is at prefent, cfpccially towards the fouthern parts ; if we may j»dge from the rivers and fepulchral mo- numents. All this part of the world, from the fixtieth degree of latitude, or thereabouts, and as far as thofe frozen mountains which border on the north ftas, is entirely different from the regions of the temperate zone ; the earth produces neither the fame plants, nor the fame animals, nor arc there the fame fort of filh s in their lakes and rivers. Below the country of the Samojedes lies that of the Oftiaks, along the river Oby. Thefe people liave no rcfcmblance or connection in any refped with the hair'ojcdes, unlcfs that like them and all the fifll race of men, they are hunters, fifhermen, and Ihcpherds; f«>me of them have no religion, not being lormcd into any fociety, and the others § lu the Rufliun Unguage TobolHcy, , who OF RUSSIA, '9 ” who liv^e together in herds or cl^ns, have a kind ^ of worship* and pray to the principal obje6f of their Wants; they woiftiip the (kin of a (heep, becaufc ' ^ this cre;^ture is ofall othc^r the mod ufeful to them ; ju(l ai- the Fgyptran hnfban (men ma^ie choice f >f an cx, as an emblem of the Deity who created that creature for the ufe of man. I HE Odiaks have likewife other idols, whofe o- tigin and wofthip are as little worth our n otice as ^ their wofdiippers. 1 here were fome converts to Chriftianity made amongd them in the year 171. ; but thefe, like the lowed of our pcafants, are Chri- *'■ dians without knowing what they profefs. Several F- writers pretend that ihefc people were natives of hi Great Permia, but as Great Permia is in a manner a defart, we cannot well imagine that thofe people tb fh( uld fettle at fo great a didance, and in fo w etch- 11: cd a country. This matter is not worth clearing op ; as any nation, which has not cultivated the H polite arts, dc-ferves to remain in obfeuriry. lip In the country of the Odiaks in particular, and k amongd ihcT neighbours the Burates and Jukuti- ans, they often diicover a kind of ivory under 55: ground, the nature of which is yet unknown. .V] Some take it to be a fort of foflil, and others the ic tooth of a ffecics of elephants, the breed of which jj; ha\e been dcllrovcd : but where is the country that docs not ad'ord fome natural produaions, which at 5^ once adcniih and confound philofophy ? ^ Several mountains in this country abound wi:b the amianthes or aibdlof, a kind of incom- bullible r THE HISTORY 50 buQiblc flax, of which a fort of linen cloth and paper is fometimes made. To the fouth of the Oftiaks are the Burates, an« other people, who have not yet embraced ChrifH- anity Taftward there are fcvcral hords, whom the RuflTians have not yet entirely fubdued. None of thefe people have the lead knowledge of the kalendar. They reckon^their time by fiiows, and not by the apparent motion of the fun: as it fnows regularly, and for a long lime every winter, they fay, ‘ I am fo many fnows old,’ juft as we fay, I am fo many years old. And here I mull mention an extraordinary fad related by the Swedifh ofRcer Strahlcmberg, who was taken priioner in the battle of Pultowa, and li- ved fifteen years in Siberia, and made a furvey of that countjy. He fays that there are ftill fonie re- mains of an ancient people, whofc (kin is^fpolted or variegated with difFcient colours, and that he him-, ^felf had feen Tome of them ; and the fadl has been confirmed to me by Kuflians born at Toboliky. The variety of the human fpecies feems to be greatly di- miniftied, as we find very few of thefe extrao:dina- ry people, and they have probably been exterminat- ed by dome other race ; for inftance, there are ve- ry tew Albinos, or White Moors ; one of them was prefented to the acaucm) of fcirnces at Paris, which I faw It is the fame with rclpedt to fcvcral other fpecies of aninuls' which arc fcaice. As to the Borandians, of whom mention is made fo frequently in the learned hiftory of the ki.ng’s garden. OF RUSSIA. garden, my memoirs acquaint me, that this race of prople is entirely unknown to the RufTians. All the fouthcrn part of thcfe countries is peo- pled by numercu*! bodies of Tartars. The ancient Turks came from this part of Tarrary to conquer ihcfe extenfivc countries, of which they arc at pre- fent in poireflion. The Calmucks and Moguls are ' the very Scythians who, under Madies, became mafters of Upper AOa, and conquered Cyaxares king of the Medes, They arc the men, whom Gengis Khan and his funs led afterwards as far as Germany, and was termed the Mogul empire un- der ! amerlane. Thcfe people aflbrd a lively pic- ture of the viciffitudes which have happened to all nations ; fome of their hords, fo far from being formidable now, are become tributaries to Ruflia. This is the fituation of every particular nation of Calmucks, dwelling between Siberia, and the Cafpian fea, where, in the year 172 , was difeo- vcrcd a fubtenaneous houfe of Hone, with urns, lamps, ear-rings, an equellrian ftatue of an orien- tal prince, w'ith a fo much time was taken up in getting to the port where they were to irobaik, in building and fitting 53 OF R IT S S T A. €Ut the flilps, and providing the necrflaries Spen- genberg failed as far as the north o [^pin. through a freight, formed by a long chain of and returiud without having difcovcrcJ more than tne pailagc. In 17 1, Bering cruifed all over this Tea, in company with De ti’HIe de la Croycre, the aft ono- mer, of the fame lamily of De LMfle, which has produced fiich excellent geographers : another can* tain lilcewife failed upon the fame difcov *ry. They both reached the coaft of America, to the north- ward ot California thus the north eaft pafTage, fo long lought aft^r, was at length clifcovered ; but there were no provifions to be met with in thefe barren coafts. Their frcfli water was fpcnt, and many of the c.cw perilhed with the feurvy. They faw the northern bank of California for a- bove an hundred miles, and faw fome leathern ca» noes, with juft fuch a foit of peo[)le in them as the Canadians. All iheir endeavours, however, prov- ed fruitlefs. Bering ended his life in an ifland^ to which he gave his name. The ocher captain, hap- pening to be clofer in with the Calicornian coaft, fent ten of his people on fliore, who never return- ed. The captain, a*ter waiting for them in vain, found himlclt obliged fo return to Ka utftiatka, and Dc died as he was going on Ihorc. Such arc the mistomines that have attended evety new at- tempt upon the nortbcui Teas. But what advan- tages may yet arile from thefe powerful and dan- gerous difcoveiies, time alone inuft reveal. We have now ddcribed all the different pro- D 2 vinccs 54 THE history vinres that cosnpore the Ruffian dominions, from Finland to the fea of Japan. I he largcft parts of this empire have been united at different times, as has been the cafe in al! other kingdoms m the world. The Scvthians, Huns, Maffagetes, blavi- ,.ns Cimbriatis. Gctcs, and Sarmatians, are now fubjeas of the Czar. The Ruffians, properly fo called, are the ancient Roxolani or Slavi. ItpoN rtfleftion, we (ball find that mod (rates were formed after this manner. The French are an affemblage of Goths, of Danes, called Normans, of northern Germans, called Burgundians; of Funks Alemans, and feme Romans mixed with ,he ancient Celttc. In Rome and Italy there are many families defeended from the people of the north, but none fprung from the ancient Romans. The fovereign pontiff is frequently fprung from a Lombard, a Goth, a Teuton, or a Cimbrtan. Ihc Spaniards are a race of Arabs, Carthaginians, Je«f, Tvrians, Vifigoths, and Vandals, incorporated with the ancient inhabitants of the country. When na- tions are thus intermixed, it is a long time before they are civilized, or even before their language is formed. Some indeed receive thefe improvements fooner, othe.s later. Polity and the liberal arts are fo difficult to eftabliili, and the new raned la- brick fo often deftroyed by revolutions, that we may wondci all other nations are not as barbarous as the Tartars. CHAP. OF RUSSIA. SS b m its I h KIT ftlij: lib tA: !(irca kIk ibt; en’j Ikn £. •• Di.; u Kb b? JKJJ cti i ii ifb C H A P. II. Continuation of the dcfcriptioa of Ruffia^ popuhitiont Jinances, armies % cufloms^ religion » State oj RuJ* fia, before Peter the Great, •^1 H £ more a country is clvllizeu tue better is JL peopled. Thus CKina ami India are the moft populous of all other emprres, becaufe that after the multitude of revolutions, which have chan^d the face of the earth, thcfe two nations made the earlielt eftablilhments in focicty. Tkeir government having fubfifted upwards of four thou* fand years, fuppofcs, as we have already obferved, many eflays and efforts in preceding ages. The Ruffians came very late ; and as the arts having been introduced amoiigft them in their full perfecti- on, it has happened, that they made more progrefs in fifty years, than any other nation has made in five hundred. The country is far from being po- pulous, in :proportion to its extent ; but fuco as it is, it has as great a number of inhabitants as any other (late in ChrxRendom. I might ailerc from the capitation lills, and the rcgillcr of merchants, arti- ficers, and male peafants, that PiUiTu, at prefent, contains at kali twenty four millions of inhabitants : D 3 of ► Ci THE HISTORY 5 ^ of tbefe twenty four millions, the moll part are viN lains or bondmen, as in Poland, fevcral provinces of Germany, and formerly throughout all Larope. The cllate of a gentleman in Ruflia and Poland is computed, not by his increafe in money, but by the number of his flaves. The following is a lift taken in i 747, of all the rrales who paid the capitation or poll-tax. Merchants or tradefnacn • • 198000 *U'orkmen - - - ♦ 16500 Penfants incorporated with the merchants and workmen - Peafants called Odon* fkis, who contribute to maintain the militia - - 430220 Others who did not contribute thereto x6o8o Workmen of difFcrcnt trades, whole pa- rents are unknow'n ... loco Others who are not incorporated in the clafs of workmen - - - 47®® Peafants immediately dependent on the crown> about . - - 55 5®®® Perfons employed in the mines belong- ing to the crown, partly Chriftians, partly Mahometans and Pagans - 640CO Other perfons of the crown, who work in the mines, and private manufaflurcs 24200 New converts to the Greek church 57000 Tartars and Oftiaks (peafants) - 241000 Muurfes, I'artars, Morduats, and others, w hether Pagans or Chriftians, employed by the admiralty - - - 7R00 Tartars OF R U S S I A. S7 Tartars fubjecl to contribution, called Tcp- teris, Bobilitz, &c. - - 28^00 Bondmen to fcveral merchants, and other P'ivilcged people, who, without polTcf- fing any lands, are allowed to have flaves - - - - 9100 Pcafants defigned for the maintenance of the crown - - - - 4>Sooo Peafants on the lands belonging to her majefty, independently of the rights of the crown ... 60500 Peaiaiits on the lands confifeated to the crown - - - • i^6coo Bon as thofc with which I have been favoured. Russia therefore is exaftly five times lefs popu- lous than Spam, but contains four times the num- ber of inhabitants : it is near as populous as France or Germany *, but if we confidcr its prodigious ex- tent, the number of ibuls is thirty times Icfs. In regard to this enumeration there is one im- portant remark to be made, namely, that out of fix millions, lix hundred and forty thoufand people liable to the poll-tax, there are nine hundred thou- fand chat belong to the clergy of Ruflia, without reckoning the clergy of the conquered countries, of the Ukraine, and Siberia. Therefore, out of feven perfons liable terthe poll tax, the clergy have one j but neverthelefs they are far from poflefling the feventh part of the whole revenues of the date, as is the cafe in many other kingdoms, where they have at lead a feventh of all efiates ; for their peafants pay a capitation to the fo- vercign ; and the other taxes of the crown oi Ruf- fia, in which the eJergy have no fharc, are very confiderablc. This valuation is very different from tfiat of all other writers who have made mention oi Ruflia ; fo that foreign miniilers w ho have tranfniitted memoirs of this date to their courts have been greatly mifta- ken. The archives of the empire arc the only things to be confidered. It is very probable, that RufTia has been much more populous than it is at prefent ; before the D 5 franll- 6o THE HISTORY imall-pox that c*5me from Arabia, and thf great pox camt* trom America, had ravaged thefe climates, v/here they have now tcskcn root Thefe two fcour- gts have dej opulated the woild more than all its wars, the one owing to Mahomet, and the other to Chriftopher Columbus. The plague, originally of Africa, feldom approaches the countries of the north. Befides, the people of the north, from Sarma* tia, to the Tartars who dwell beyond the great wall, having overlpread the world by their irruptions, this ancient nurfery of men mult have been (irangely dimiiiiriied. In this vaft extent of country, there are faid to be about feven thoufand four hundred monks, and five thoufand fix hundred nuns, no: w ithftanding the care taken by Peter the Great to reduce tbeir num- bers; a care worthy the legiflator of an empire, where the human race principally fail. Thefe thir- teen thoufand perfons, thus cloiftered and loft to the ftate, have (as the reader may have remarked) feven hundred and twenty thoufand bondmen to till their lands, which is evidently too great a num- ber. There cannot be a ftrottger proof of the dif- ficulty of eradicating abufes of a long ftanJing I FIND, by a ftate of the revenues of the empire in 17 i >5 that reckoning the tribute paid by the Tartars, with all taxes and duties in money, the Turn total amounted to thirteen millions of rubles, which make ftxty five millions of French livres, exclufive of tributes in kind This moderate fum was at that time fufficient to maintain three hun- dred and thirty nine thoufand five hundred men, a$ O F' R U S S I A^‘ 6i clint! ’Ob untl teodr itir ’00) W iptioei' irtti Ndb,! ;tkf3 Ita! uiil im obi!j9 fdUS loiiti iktH lOK’. c(l< 'tflU' if:f‘ rri^ as well fca as land forces : biit both tbc revenues of the crown and the number ot troops are greatly auitmcnted fincc that'timcc THfi'Cuiiomt, dietSy and manners of the KuP» fians, ever bore a greater rcfemblance to thofc of Alia than to thofe of Europe : fuch was the old cuf- fom of receiving tribute in kind, of defraying the cxpcnces of ambafladors on their journeys, and dur- ing their refidcncc in the country, and of never ap- pearing at church, or before the throne with a fworJ; an oriental cuflom, diredlly the reverfc of that ri- diculous and barbarous one amongft us. of addref- fing ourfclves to God, to our king, to our friends, and to our women, with an ofFenfive weaponj which hangs down to the bottom of the leg. The long robe worn on public days had a more noble air than the fliort habits of the weltern nations of Eu- rope A tunic lined and turned up with fur, with a long feimar, adorned with jewels for feiiival days ; and thofe high turbans, which add to tne tiature, were much morc‘ ftriking to the eye than our pe.- rukes and clofe coats, and more luitable to cold cli- mates; but this ancient drefs of all nations feems not to be fo well contrivesi for war, nor fo conveni- ent tor working people. Moft of their other cuf- toms were ruQic; but we muft not imagine, that their manners were as barbarous as reprefeiucd by fome hilforians. Albert Krants relates a (lory of an Italian ambaifador, wnom the Czar ordered to have bis hat nailed on his head, tor not pulling it off while he was making his fpeech to him. O- D 6 ihers 62 I THE HISTORY thers attribute this adventure to a Tartar, and others igaiii to a French ambaihaclor. Olearius pretends, that Czar Michael I he* odorowitz baniftied the marquis Exideuil, ambaf- fador from Henry IV. of France, into Siberia; but it is certain, that this monarch fent no ambaffador to IMofcow, and that there never was a marquis of Exideuil. In the fame manner do travellers fpeak about the country of Borandia, a place chat never exjfted, and of the trade they have carried on with the people of Nova Zembla, a country fcarcely in- habited, and the long converfations they have had .with fome of the Samojedes, as if they underllood their language. Were the enormous compilations of voyages to be purged of evrry thing that is not true or ufeful in them, both the works and the public w^ould be gainers by it. Ehe Ruffian government rtfemblcd that of the lurks, in refpecl to the (landing forces, or guards, called Strelitzes, who, like the Janizaries, fumetinus difpofed of the crown, and frequently dif- turbed the (late as much as they defended it. 1 heir number was about forty thoufand. i hufe who were diTperfed in the piovinces, fubfiftcd by robbery and plunder ; thofe in Mofeow lived like citizens, (cl- low'ed trades, did no duty, and carried their info- Jence to the grcatefl excels ; in iliort, there was no other way to preferve peace and good order in the kingdom, but by breaking them; a very neccffi*»y, and at the fame time a very dangerous (lep. Ihe public revenue does not exceed five mil* lions of rubles, or about tiventy five miJlioiis ofli* vres. OF Tl TT S S I A. u tsk nit hi ki ^11 b‘ jfe BSU m ki ba ik b I® tii iiii iiki fc" p^' jtfi ie« !cfi K(0 i«: si; <^3 vres. This was fufficient when Peter the Great came to the crown to maintain the ancient me than ffom the THE HISTORY ^4 the Ron^an Caefars, whofe name never reached the cars ot the »Sibeiian Tzars, on the banks of the Oby, No title, however pompous, is of any conf eqticnee if thofe who bear it are not great and powerful of themfeivcs. The word emperor^ which originally fjgnified no more than general of the army^ became the title of the fovereign of the Roman republic : it i« now given to the fupreoie governor of all the Ruflias, more juftly ttan to anv other poren ate, if we confider the power and extent of his domi* nions. RELIGION. The eftabliflied religion of this country has e- ver fiiice the eleventh century been that of the Greek church, fo called in eppofition to the Latin : though there were always a greater number of Mabonutan and Pagan provinces, than of tbofe inhabited by Chriliians. Siberia^ as far as China, was in a Itate of idolatry ; and in fome of the provinces, they were utter llrangers to all religion. Pekrt, the engineer, and Baroa Strahlemberg, who both refided fo many years in Ruffia, tell us, that they found more good faith and probity among the Pagans, ihan the other inhabitants; not that Paganifm made them more virtuous ; but their man- ner ot jiving, which wa^ rhat ot the primitive ages, freed them from all tumultuous p<:(Iions ; and, in confequcnce, they were known lor their integrity. Christianity was not propaged in Kuiha, and the other countries ot the north, tilTvciy latct It It !s faid that a princefs, named Olha, firft Intro- duced ity about the end of the tenth century, as Clotilda, niece to an Arian prince, did among the Franks; the wife of Miccflaus, duke of Poland, a- mong the Poles ; and the fifter of the emperor Hen- ry II. among the Hungarians. Women are natu- rally eaGly perfuaded by the miniltcrs of religion, and as eafily pcrfuade the men. It is turiher added, that this princefs Olha cau- fed herfell to be baptifed at Conllantinoplc, by the name of Helena; and that as foon as Ihe embraced Chridianity, the emperor John Zimifces fell in love with her. It is moll likely that fhe was a widow ; however, (he rcfufcd the emperor, fhe example of the princefs Olha, or Olga, as the is called, did not at lirft make any great number of profelyres. Her fon Xi '^bo reigned a long time, was not of the fame way of thinking as his mother ^ but her grandloH Wolodimer, who was born of a concubine, having mounted the throne, fued for the alliance of Babies, emperor of Conftantinople, but could obtain it only on condition of receiving baptifm ; and this crent, which happened in the year nine hundred and eighty feven, is the epocha when the Oreck church was eltabhihed in Ruffin. Photius, the patriarch, fo fa- mous for his immenfc learning* his difputes with the church of Rome, and for his misfoi tunes, fent a parfon to baptifc Wolodimer, in order to add this part of the world to the patriarchal fee §. I His name was SowaOowflaw, § This anecdote i» taken trem a private M. S. intitlcJ. •* The Ec- WOLODIMBR sa 1 piili'IIIIIIIIIWIIlii P I lip 66 THE HISTORY WoLODiMER thus completed the work which his grandmother had begun. A Gree^lc was made the firll Metropolitan, or Patriarch of Huflia *, and from this time, the Ruffians adopted an alphabet, partly deriyed from the Greek. This would have been of advantage to them, had they not dill retain- ed the principles of their language, which is the Sclavonian, in every thing, but a few terms relat- ing to their liturgy and church government. One of the Greek patriarchs, named Jeremiah, having a fuit depending before the Divan, took a j. urney to Mofeow CO folicit the affillance of that court; where, after fomc time, he refigned his authority over the Ruffian churches, and confecrated the Archbirtiop of Novogorod, named Job, patriarch. Uhis was in one thouiancl five hundred and eighty eight, from which time the iluffian church became as independent the empire. The patriarcii of lii.ffia has ever fince been confecrated by the Ruf- fian bifficps, and not by the patriarch of Conftanti- Jiople. He ranked in the Greek church next to the patriarch iof J'erufaleni ; but he was in faft the on- ly free and powerful patriarch, and confequtntly, ‘ the only real one. Tbofe of Jcrufalcm, Conftanti- coplc, Antioch, Alexandria, are mercenary chiefs > of a church, enflaved by the Turks ; Riid even the patriarchs of Jeruialem and Antioch arc no longer I <^o*'hdcned as luch, having no more credit or iuflu- tj ' ^ jn furkey^ than the rabins of the jewifh fy- OF RUSSIA. 67 Peter the Great was defeended in a dire£l line from a perfon who became patriarch of all the Ruf- fias. Thcfc new prelates foon wanted to flvarc the foverei^n aathprity with the Czars. They thought it not enough that their prince walked bare-headed once a year before the patriarch, leading his horfe by the bridle. Thefe external marks of refpect on- ly ferved to encreafe their third for rule j a paffion which proved the fource of great troubles in RuQia, as it has done in other countries. , Njcon, a perfon wkom the monks look upon as a faint, and who was patriarch in the reign of A.- Icxis^ the father of Peter the Great, wanted toraife Jiis digrtity above that of the throne ; for he not on- 4y ail'umed the privilege of fitting by the Ode of the Czar In the fenate, hut pretended that neither war nor peace could be made without iiis conlent. fU Authority was fo great, that being fupported by his 4mmcnrfe wealth, aiul by his intrigues with the der^ •gy and the people, he kept bis mailer in a kind of fubycclioii. He had the boldncfs to excomnnuni- cate fomc fenators who oppofed his exceffive iiUo- 4cnce; till at length, Akxis finding -himfeif not powerful enough to depufe him by his own autho- rity, was obliged to convene a fynod of all the bi- {hops. There the patriarch was accufed of having received money from the Poles j and being convict- ed, was depofed and confined for the remainder of his days in a monallery ; after which the prelates jchofe another patriarch. From the firll planting of Chriftianity in Ruflia, there have been feveral kdls there, as well as in o- thcr 68 THE HISTORY ther countries; for fe£ls are as frequently the fruits j of Ignorance, as of pretended knowledge: bur R jflia ‘ is the only Chriltian fiatc of any confidcrable cx* | tent, in which religion has not excited civil wars, though it has felt fome occafional tumults. The Kafkolnikys, who confift at prefent of a* bout two thoufand males, and who arc mentioned in the foregoing lift are the moft ancient fefl of i any in this country. It was ellabliftied in thetwd th i century, by feme bigots, who had a fuperficial kn. w- f ledge of the New i eftament : they made ufc then, | and ftill do, of the old pretence of all feftaries, that of following the letter, and acculcd all other Chri* ftians of remifl'nefs. They would not permit a prieft, who had drank brandy, to confer baptifm; they af» , firmed, in the words of our Saviour, that th :re is | no precedency among the faithtul ; and held, that j a Chriftian 4nighi kill himfelf for the love of his Sa» vicur. According to them, it is a great fin to re- peat the hailc uja three times; and, therefore, re- peat It only twice. I he mark of the crofs is to be made only w ith three fingers. In other refpeds, no lociety can be more regular or ftri£l in its mo- rals. 1 hey live like the quakers, and do nor admit any other Chiiitians into their affemblics, which is i the rcafon that ihefc have accufed them of all the j abominations of which the heathens accufed the primitive Galileans ; thctc latter, the Gnoitics, aud with which the Roman Catholics have chaigcd the | Proteitants. ihey have been liequently accuied t See page 5$. of OF RUSSIA. <5p of kilims: an infant, and drinking its blood ; and ^ of mixing together in their private ceremonir^s, without diltinflion of kindred, age, or even of fex. j They have been perfecuted at times, and then they ^ have rtmt themfelvcs up in their hamlets, fet fird to their houfes, and thrown t-hemfelvcs into the CQ . • flames. Peter rook the only method of reclaiming them, which was by letting them live in peace. But to conclude; in all this vaft empire, there are but twenty-eight cpifcopal fees, and in Peter's time, there were but twenty-two. This fmall number was, perhaps, one of the caufes to which the Ruflfian church owes its tranquillity. So very circumfcribcd was the knowledge of the clergy, that the Czar Theodore, brother to Peter the Great, ^ was the firlf who introduced the cullom of finging lU pfalms in churches. Theodore and Peter, efpecially the latter, admitted indifferently into their councils and their armies, thofe of the Greek, and the Latin, the Lu- thcran, and the Calvinift communion, leaving every one at liberty to ferve God after his own confei- * ence, provided he did his duty to the (late. At that time, there was not one Latin church in this > 1 *^ great empire of two thoufand leagues, till Peter ilabliihed fome new manufactures at Aftracan, when cfli there were about fixty Roman Catholic families un- 0 dcr the direction of the capuchins ; but the jefuits ill endeavouring to ellablifh themfclves in his do nini- ons, he drove them out by an ed Ct pubbfhed in the month ot April He tolerated the ca- puchins 70 THE HISTORY puchins as an mfignlficant fet of monks, but con G- dered the Jefuits as dangerous politicians. I HE Greek church has at once the honour and fatisfaction to fee its communion extended through- out an empire of two thoufand leagues in length, while that of Korae is not in pofTedion of halt that tracb in Europe. Thofe of the Greek commu- liion have, at all times, been particularly attentive to maintain an equality between theirs and the La- tin chunch ; and always upon their guard againit the zeal of the fee of Rome, imputing it to ambi- tion ; becaufe, in faff, that church, whofe power is very much circumferibed in our hemifphcre, and yet aflumes the title of univerfai^ hzs always endeavour- jed to adk in fuch a manner as to deferve that title. The Jews never made any fcttlement in Ruffia, as they have done in moft of the other Rates of iuropc, flora Conitantinople to Rorne. The Ruf- •Cans have carried on their trade by tbemfelvcs, or by the help of the nations fettled among them. Theirs is the only country of the Greek communi- on, where iynagogues are not intermixed with Chri- ilian temples. Conclufion cf the Ji ate of Russia before Peter Great. Russia is indebted folely to the Czar Peter for its great influence in the affairs of Europe i being of no confideration in any other reign, fniceit em- braced Chriltianity, 13eforc this period, the Ruf- fians OF RUSSIA. 7 * fians made the fame fiprure on the Black Sea that ' the Normans did afterwards on the coafts of the ^ ocean. In the reign of the emperor Heraclliis, they fitted out an armament of forty thoufand fmall “• barks, appeared before Confiantinople, which they btfieged,-and impofed a tribute on the Greek em- ^5 perors; but the grand knez Wolodimer, being wholly taken up with the care of eftablilhing Chri- ftianity in his dominions, and wearied out with in- tclline broils in his own family, weakened his do- iHi minions by dividing them between his children, b They almoft all fell a prey to the fartars, who held RulRa in fubje^^ion near two hundred years. At ttb length John Bafilides freed it from flavery, and en- r» larged its boundaries*, but after his time, it was itil ruined again by civil wars. nk Before the time of Peter the Great, RufTia w^as Ii neither Co powerful, fo well cultivated, fo popiiloue, giii nor Co opulent as at prefent. It had no poilcnions in Finland, nor in Livonia ; and this latter alone OB had been long worth more than all Siberia. I he Cofiacks were Aill unfubj*6led, nor were the people of ARracan reduced to obedience ; what little trade was carried on, was rather to their difadvantage. The White Sea, the Baltic, the Pontus Buxinus, ijjj the fea of Afoph, and the C f;uan Tea, were entire- ly ufclcfs to a nation that had not a finglc (hip, nor even a term in their language to fxprefs a If pu nothing more bad been nectflary but to be (uperi- or to the Tartars, and the other nations of the noith, as far as Chinar the RulTians undoubtedly had that advantage j ik' u 72 THE HISTORY advantage *, but they wanted to be biou^ht upon an equality with civilized nations and ro be jn a con- dition one day of even fuipatfing fcveral of them, Such an undertaking appeared altogether impr.jQi- cable, inafmuch as they had not a fingle flnpatfea, and were abf< intelv igro’'ant of military difeipline by land ; nav,the molt common manu'afturcs were hardly encouraged, and agriculture itfelf, the nri^ mum mobile of trade, lay neglecled. ih;s requires the utmoft attention and encouragement on the part of a government ; and it is to this that the h;)gli(h are Indebted, for find ng in their corn, a treafurefar fuperior to their woollen manufaclurc. I'his grofs nej;l^£t ot the n^erflary arts fuflici- ently (hews, that the people of RufTia had no idea of the polite arts, which become neerflary in their turn, when we have been properly cultivitedr They n ight indeed have fent fome ot the natives to gain inliruftion among foreigners; but the difference of language?, manneis, and religion, oppofed it. Be« fjdcs, there w s a law of ftate and religion equa'ly facred and deffru£tive to the welfare of the commu- nity, which prohibited any liulfian from going out of his country, and thus condemned this people 10 eternal ignorance. I hey were in poffeflion of the moft extenfive dominions ia the world, and yet e- very improvement was wanted amongft them. At length Peter was boin, and llufTu became a civi- lized Irate. Happily, of all the great lawgfvers who have lived in the world, Peter is the only one whofe hif- tory OF RUSSIA. 73 tory is well known. Thofc of Tlicfeus and Pwomu- of writing truths, wi.ich w’ould pals for fictions, tiT5 Before that time, Ruflia had undergone revolutions, jiff, which had retarded the ^e^^^mation ot her police, and the elfabiinimenc of the liberal arts. I his has l)cen the fate of all human focicties. No kingdom led cvet experienced more cruel troubles. In the year the tvrant B ns G )donow aAdflinated De- up metrius, the lawful heir, and uiu.pc.i the empire. A young monk took the name of Demetrius, pre- tending to be that prince who had cfcaped from his ^ aflalFins, and with the afTiftance of the Poles, and a jji confiderable party (which every tyrant has againit him) he drove out the ufurper, and feized the crown himfclf. The impolture was difeovered as foon as he came to the fovtreignty, becaufc the people were dilTatisfied with his goveiumcnt j and he was nRur- lus, who dir: far lefs than him. and of the founders ^ of all civilized ftates, arc blended with the molt ab- fund ffj'tions; whereas here, w( have the advantage tk: il'oi CHAP. 111. The ancejiors of Peter the Great. H E family of Peter the Great have been feat- cd on the throne ever fince the year lOi ecred, THE HISTORY 74 dered. Three other falfe Demetrius’s rofe up one alter another. Such a fuccefTion of impoflors muft needs put a country into the utmoft confufion, The Icib men are civilized, the more cafily they arc impofed on. It may readily be conceived, how much thefe fiauds augmented the public confufion and misfo: tunes. The Poles, who had begun thofe revolutions, by fctiing up the 6rfl falfc Demetrius, were very near being mailers of RufTia. 1 he Swedes fliared in the fpoils on the coalT: of Finland, and alfo laid claim to the crown. The llatc feemed on the brink of utter dellruciion In the midfl of thefe troubles, an alTembly, com- pofed of the principal boyars, chofc for their fove- reign a voung man only fifteen years of age: this hippencd in i6n, and did not feem the bell me- thod of putting an end to thefe troubles. This young man was Michael Homanow f , grand-father to Czar Peter, and Ton :o the archbilhop of Roftow, firnamed Philaretes, and of a nun, and related by the mother’s fide to the ancient Czars. It muR be remembered, that this archbifliop was a powerful nobleman, wnom the tyrant Doris had obliged to become priclt. His wife Scheremetow was likewile loiced to take the veil ; this was the ancient cufionn of the weftern tyrants of the Latin church, as that of putting out the eyes, was with the Greek Chndians. i he tyrant Demetrius made Pf)ilarURING this interval, Peter became confirm- ed in his dcTign of introducing the liberal arts into his country. His father Alexis had, in bis life-lime, the fame views, but he wanted a favourable opportunity to carry them into execution. He tranfmitted his genius to his fon, who had flill a clearer idea of thefe matters than himfelf, was more vigorous, and more unHiaken by difficulties and obftacles. Alexis had been at a great expence in fending for Bothler *, a (hip builder and fca-captain from Holland, with a number of carpenters and failors. Thefe built a large frigate and a yacht upon the Wolga, which they navigated down that river to Afiracan, where they wtfe to be employed in build- ing more v flels, for carrying on an advantageous trade with Perfia by the Cafpian fea Juft at this time the revolt of Stenka Rffin broke out ; and this rebel deftroyed thefe two vcftels, which he ought to have preferved for his own fake, and murdered the captains. The reft of the crew fled into Per- fia, from whence they got to fome fettlemcnts be- • Memoirs of Petersburg and Mofeow, F 2 longing 102 the HISTOTIY longing to the Dutch Eaft- India company. A ma- (ler-builder, who was a good fhip-wright, (laid be* hind in Ruflia, where he lived a long time in ob- feurity* One day, as Peter was walking at Ilhmaelof, a fummer-palacc built by his grand-father, he per- ceived, among feveral other rarities, an old tng* lid) fliallop, which had been entirely negleft.d : upon which he afked Timmcrma!), a German, and bis mathematical teacher, how came that little boat to be of To difTeient a conftruQion bom any he had icen on the Molka ? Timmerman replied, that it was matle to go with fails and oars. The young prince wanted inllantly to m^ke a trial of it ; but it was firil to he r'“paired and rigged. Brant, the Ihip builder above mentioned, was at laft found at bb'fcow, where he lived retired ; he foon put the boar in order, and failed wnth her up'n the river Yauza, which waflies the fuburbs of the town. Peter caufed his boat to be removed to a great lake in the neighbourhood of the convent of the Trinity, where he made Brant build two more fri- ga*es, and three yachts, and piloted them himfelf. A conuderable time afterwards, viz in lOg.i, be took a journey to Archangel, and having ordered Brunt to build a finall vcflel, he embarked therein on the Frezen ocean, which no fovereign befide bi/iuelf had ever behelJ. On this occaficm he was efcorted by a Cutch man of war, under the com- rnard t f Captain jc lfcn, and attended by all the ne.vfar.t vefieJs then in the harbour of Archan- g-b Tit: had already learned the manner of work* OF RUSSIA. 103 . ix i,IUi ’until' lt[,k: 20 gP.: ict^ Gt'st 151 nir plxi: ftt Ml , k Ml :!k;i ap-ai: tltuT. mK cdki:j lb- iaii'r iibi ak- I!,. ofJt ing a Hiip j and notwithOanding the pains his cour- tiers took to imitate their mafter, he was the only one who underiiood it. He found it as difficult to raife a well difeipiin- ed body of land forces on whom he could depend, as to ellablilh a navy. His full cfTay in navigati- on, on a lake, previous to his journey to Archan- gel, was looked upon only as tke anmfement of a young prince of genius *, and his full attempt to form a body of difciplined troops, likewife appeared as no more than that of diverfion. This happened during the regency of the princefs Sophia 5 and had he been fufpedted of meaning any thing elfe, by this amufement, it might have been attended witU fatal confequences to the young hero. Me placed his confidence in Tt foreigner, the ce- lebrated Le Fort, of a noble anv! ancient family in Piedmont, who removed near two centuries ago to Geneva, where they have filled the moft confider- able pofts in the ftate. He was intended to have been brought up to trade, to which that city is in- debted for its prefent importance, having formerly been reroaikable only for religious controverfies. But his genius, which prompted him to the greatcfl undertakings, engaged him to quit his fa- ther’s houfe at the age of fourteen ; and he ferved four years in quality of a cadet in the citadel of Mar- feilles; from thence he went to Holland, where he ferved fome time as a volunteer, and was wounded at the fiege of Grave, a fortified town on the Meufe, which the prince of Orange, afterwards king of England, retook from Lewis XIV. in 1694. Af- F 3 ter IC4 THE HISTORY ter this, led by hopes of preferment, wherever he could find it, he embarked with a German coIo- nel, named VerOin, who had obtained a commit fion from Peter’s father, the Czar Alexis, to raife folditrs in the Netherlands, and bring them to Archangel. But when he arrived at that port, af- ter a moft fatiguing and dangerous navigation, the Czar Alexis was dead ; the government was chang- c !, and Mufeovy in confufion. 1 he governor of Archangel fuffered Verdin, Le Fort, and his whole troop, to remain a long time in the utmoft po- verty and diftrefs, and even threatened to fend them into the extremity of Siberia; upon which every man (hifted for himfelf. Le Fort, in great necef- fity, repaired to Mofeovv, where he w^aited upon the Danifh refident, named de Horn, who made him his fecre ary ; there he learned the Ruflian lan- guage, and fome time afterwards found means to be introduced to the Czar Feter ; the elder brother I wan not being a perfon for his purpofe. Peter was taken with him, and immediately made him a captain of foot. Le Fort did not underftand much of the military fcrvice, he was unlearned, not hav- ing ftudied any particular art or fcience ; but he had fecn a great deal, and was capable of making the mofl of what he faw. Like the Czar, he owed every thing to his own genius ; he underftood the German and Dutch languages, which Peter was learning at that time. Every thing confpired to make him agreeable to Peter, to whom he ftri£Uy attached himfelf. From being the companion of his pleafurcs, he became his favourite, and confirm- OF RUSSIA. lOS eJ himfelf in that ftation by bis good qualities. The Czar made him his con6dci.t in ihe moll dan- gerous defign that a prince of that country coul. I poHibly form, namely, that of putting himfelf m a condition to be able one day to break the feditious and barbarous body of forces called the Strehtzes. It had cod the great Sultan Ofman his life for at- tempting to reform the J.mizaries. Peter, young as he was, went to work in a much abler manner than Ofman. He began with forming, at his country-feat at Preobrazindvi, a company of fifty of his youngeft do nedics i and fo.ne young gentlemen, the fons of boyars, were chofen for their officers : but in order to teach them fubordination, to which they v»erc wholly unaccudomed, he made them pafs through all the different military degrees, and him- feU let them the example, by ferving firdas a drum- mer, then as a private foldier, a ferjeant,and a lieutc-^ nant of a company. Nothing was ever more ufe- ful than this condu£l. The Ruffians had hitherto made war after the manner of our anceftors at the time of the feudal tenures, when ihe nobles took the field at the head of their vaffals, undifcipHned, and ill armed: a baibarous method, fufficicnt in- deed to aft againd the like armies, but of no ufe againd regular troops. 1’his company, which was raifcd wholly by Pe- ter himfelf, foon iitcreafed in numbers, and be- came afterwards the regiment of Preobrazinfki guards. Another regiment, formed on the fame F 4 ptan. io6 THE HISTORY plan, became in time the regiment of Semenioufky guards. The Czar now had a regiment of five thoufand foot that could be depended upon, trained by ge- neral Gordon, a Scotfman, and compofed almoft entirely of foreigners. Le Fort, who had fecn ve* ry little real fervice, but whofe capacity was equal to every thing, undertook to raife a regiment of tv.'clvc thoufand men, which he performed: five colonels were appointed to ferve under him, and be faw himfelf on a fudden general of this little army, which had been raifed, as much to oppofe the Strelitzes, as the enemies of the flate. One thing worthy of being obferved ♦, and which fuliy confutes that error of thofe who pre- tend, that France loft very few of its inhabitants by the revocation of the edict of Nantz, is, that one third of this army, which was only called a re- giment, confifted of French refugees. Le Fortdif- cipJined his new troops, as if he had been a foldier all his lifetime. Peter was defirous of feeing one of thofe mock fights, which had been lately introduced in times of peace : a fort was crc£ted, which was to be at- tacked by one part of his new troops, and defend- ed by the other- The difference between this fight and others of the like nature, was, that inftcad of a fiiam engagement, this was a real one, in which fume of his men were flain, and a great many wounded. Lc Fort, who commanded the attack, • General Lc Fort's MSS. received o F R u S S I A. 107 received a conGderable wound. Thefe bloody fports were intended to initiate the young troops into the fervice of the field ; but it required both much la- bour and trouble. These warlike amufements did not take ofF the Czar trom his naval projeft. As he had made Le Fort a general by land, notwithftanding his having never commanded, he now made him admiral, tho’ he had never had the direftion of a (liip, but he knew him defcrving both of the ( .e and the other. It is true, he was an admiral without a fleet, and a general with no other troops but his own regi- ment. Bv degrees the Czar reformed that great abufe in the army, viz. the independance of the boyars, who, in time of war, ufed to take the field with a multitude of their vaffkls and peafants : this was exadlly the ancient government of the Franks, Huns, Goths, and Vandals, who indeed fubdued the Roman empire in its (late of decline, but would have been eafily defiroyed, had they had the difci- plined legions of ancient Home to encounter, or fuch armies as are now brought into the field. Admiral Le Fort was not long, however, be- fore he had fomething more than an empty title. He employed fome Dutchmen and Venetians in building a number of long-boats, and aI£o two (hips of about thirty guns each, at the mouth of the Wo- ronitz, which falls into the Tanais, or Don ; thefe veflcls were to fall down the river, and keep the Crini Tartars in awe, with whom hollilitics had been renewed. F 5 The io 8 the history The Czar was now to determine in 1 (^ 89 , a- a^rainll which of the following powers he would de^ dare war, whether againft the Turks, the Swedes, or the Chinefe. But here it will be proper to lake notice on what terms he then flood with China, which was the firft treaty of peace concluded by that nation, C II A P. VII. Congrefs and treaty with the Chinefe •. W E muft firft flicw what were the limits of the Chinefe and RufTun empires at this period. After pafting through Siberia, properly fo called, and leaving far behind U8 to the fouth, an hundred herds of Tartars, white and black Cal* mucks, and Mahometan and Pagan Moguls, we advance to the hundred and thirtieth degree of lon- gitude, and the fifty fecond of latitude, upon the river Amur. To the northward is a great chain of mountains, which extend as far as the Frozen Sea, beyond the polar circle This river, which runs the fpace of five hundred leagues in Siberia and Chinefe Tartary, lofes iifelf after various turn- ings in the fca of Kamtfhatka. It is affirmed, that * Ex^raeted from memoirs fent from China ; alfo from ihofc Pvlcjiburg, and from publifticd in Du lialdc’s hiflory of Chioa, at OP RUSSIA. 109 Its mouth, in this Tea, there is fometimes caught a monllrous fi(h, much larger than the hippopo* tamus of the Nile, and that the tooth thereof is harder and whiter than ivory. It is further pre- tended that this ivory was formerly an objc6l of commerce; that they ufed to tranfpiTt it through Siberia, which is the reafon w'hy fcveral pieces of it are ftill found buried i-n the fields This is the moll probable account of this fotfil ivory, of which we have already fpoken ; for it appears highly chi- merical to pretend, that formerly the^e were ele- phants in Siberia. The Amur likewlfe called the Black river by the Mantchoux Tartars, and the Dragon river by the Chinefe. It was in thefe countries, which for a number of years had not been fo much as heard of, that cbe Kudians and Chinefe contclled the limits of their empires f* The Ruffians had fomc forts on the ri- ver Amur, about three hundred leagues from the ^ great wall. Many hoftilities had arilcn between thefe two nations on account of thefe forts : at length both began to undei Hand their intcrclU better ; the emperor Camhi preferred peace and commerce to an unprofitable war, and fent feveral amb-ffiadors to Niptchou, one of thofe fcitlcmenfs. 1 he am- bafTadors had five thoufand men in their retinue, including their efcort. This was Afiatic pomp; but what was very remarkable is, that there was not one example in the annals of the empire, o‘ an embafly being fent to another power ; and what is t Memoirs of the Jcfuiis Pereira and Gcrbilloo, F 6 fiill no THE HISTORY flill more fingular, that the Chinefe had never con- cluded a treaty of peace fince the foundation of their monarchy. Though twice conquered by the Tar- tars* who attacked and fubjefted them, they never made war upon any people, excepting a few herds that were quickly fubdued, or as quickly left to themfclves, without any treaty. So that this nation, fo renowned for morality, were intirely ignorant of what we call the “ Law of nations that is to fay, of thofc vague rules of war and peace, of the privi- leges of foreign minifters, of the formalities of trea- ties, or of the obligations refulting from thence, nor of thedifputes concerning precedency and point of honour. But the chief difficulty arofe to know in what language were the Chinefe to negotiate with the Ruffians, in the midft of defarts. This was rc^ moved by two Jefuits, the one a Portuguefe, nam- ed Pereira, the other a Frenchman, whofe name was Gcrbillon. They fet out from Pekin with the Chinefe ambaffiadors, and were themfclves the real riegociators. They conferred in Latin with a Ger- man belonging to the Ruffian embaffy, who under- flood that language. The chief of that embaffy was Golowin, governor of Siberia, who had a more fplendid retinue than the Chinefe themfclves, and thereby gave a high idea of the Ruffian empire, to a people who thought thcmfelres the only powerful nation upon earth- The Jefuits fixed the limits of both empires, at the river Kerbechi, near the fpot where the treaty was concluded. All the country, to the fouthward of Ill HtVilO ion (Is jjlkl; abi litklfis ttbc ri^ ilixb I of lb liiiicii bus 'QCVd) Wv iit;n i\ir fjifOS Q lilii' f,lk)C iks 10 Wl! b«F- •ifp* -Ctlif*’ •fxi OF RUSSIA. of this line of partition, was arijudged to the Chi- iiefc, and the north to the Ruffuns, who only loll a fmall fort which happened to have been built be- yond the limits : a peace was agreed' to, and after fome few altercations, both parties fwore to obferve it, in the name of the lame God § ; and in thefe terms, ** If any one of us (hall entertain the leaft thought of renewing the flames of war, we befeech the fuprenie Lord of all things, who knows the hearts of men, to punifli the traitor with immedi- ate death ” From this form of treaty, figned by Chinefc and Chriftians, we may infer two important truths : the firlt, that the Chinefe government is neither a- theiflical nor idolatrous, as has been frequently and falfly charged upon it. Xhe fecond, that all nations, who cultivate the gift of realon and underftanding, do, in clFetl, acknowledge the fame God, notwith- llanding the particular errors they labour under, through the want of being properly educated. This treaty was drawn up in Latin, and two copies were made of it. The RuflTian ambafladors fet their names the firll to the copy that remained in their pofl'clTion, and the Chinefe alfo figned their’s the firft, agreeable to the cuftom oblerved by Eu- ropean nations, when two equal powers conclude a treaty with each other. On this occafion was oblerved another cuflom belonging to the Afiatic nations, and which was, indeed, that ot the earlieft ages. I'he treaty was engraved on two large marble pillars, ete£led on the fpot, to determine the boun- daries of the two empires. § September 8, iS M. S, Memoirs of China. Three Ill THE HISTORY Three years after this, the Czar fent Ifljrand Ides, a Dane, on an embaffy to China ; and the commerce he then eftablifhcd between the two na- tions, continued with advantage to each, till the rupture between them in the year 17.2; but fmee this fbort interruption, it has been renewed again, with new vigour. CHAP. VIII. Expedition to the Pal us Maoris. Conqueft of Asoph. The Czar fends young gentlemen into foreign counr tries for improvement • I T was not fo eafy to fettle peace with the Turks, and indeed the time feemed come for the Ruf- fians to -aife themfelves upon their ruins. I he Venetians who bad long groaned under their yoke, began now to retrieve their 1 lies. 1 he Doge Mo- roiini, the fame who had lurrendered Candia to the Turks, afterwards took from them the Peloponne- fu., whereby he obtained the title 0/ Peloponnefian, an honour which revived the memory of the Roman republic Leopold, empcior of Germany, had been fuccefsful againll the Ottoman forces in rfun- garyj ; U: It lfl. \k\ ardij b ^Ii or»l lin!. ' A: 'P»i ')tk «|»5 ias2 O F R U S S I A. 113 pary ; and the Poles aopt the incurfions of the Crim Tartars. Peter took advantage of thefe circumftances, to clifcipline his troops, and to gain himTclf the em« pire of the Black Sea. General Gordon marched along the I’anais, towards Afoph, with his nume- rous regiment of five thoufand men, followed by general Le Fort, with his regiment of twelve thou- fand i by a body of Strelitzes, under the command of bcheremetow and Schein, of Prulllin extradli- on, by a body of CofTacks and a large train of ar- tillery : in (hort, every thing was ready for this expedition *. This Ruffian arm'y began its march under the command of marfhal Scheremetow J, in the be* ginning of the fummer of 16951 to attack the town of Afoph, at the mouth of the Tanais, and at the extremity of the Palus Maotis, now called the Z.bac fea. The Czar was with the army, but only as a volunteer, being determined to learn, be- fore he took upon him to commandt During their march, they ftormed two forts which the Turks had erected on the banks of the river. This expedition was attended with confiderable difficulties Ihe place was well fortified, and de- fended by a numerous garrifon. A number of long-boatf*, refembling the Turkiih faicks, and built by Venetians, with two fniall Dutch fhips of war, that were to fail out of the Woronitz, could not be got ready foon enough to enter the fea of Afoph. ♦ 1694, ^ Or Schcrcmcioff. All II 4 THE HISTORY All beginnings meet with obflacles. The Ruffians had never yet made a regular fiege j and therefore mifearried in this firfl: attempt. Mr. Jacob, a native of Dantzick, had the direc- tion of the artillery, under the command of gene* ral Schein ; for as yet they had none but foreign of- ficers belonging to the train, and none but foreign engineers and pilots. This Jacob had been con- demned to the baftinadc, or k'nouty by Schein, the PrufTian general' At that time rigorous difcipline was necefTary to firengthen command j and the Ruffians quietly fubmitted to it, notwithftanding their natural bent to mutiny ; and after the pu- niffiment, did their duty as ufual. But the Dane thought oiherwife, and refolved to be revenged for the treatment he had received, and thereupon nail- ed up the cannon, deferted to the Turks, turned Mahometan, and defended Afoph, with great fuc- cefi, againft his former mailers. This inftance (hews, that the lenity, which is now prailifed ia Mofeovy, is much preferable to the former feveri’ tics ; and is better calculated to retain thofe in their duty who have a proper fenfe of honour. It was abfolutcly neceflary, at that time, to ufc the utmoft rigour towards the common peepie ; but fince their manners have been altered, the emprefs Elizabeth has compleated, by clemency, the work her father begun, by the authority of the laws. This lenity has been extended by this princefs, to a deg.ee un- paralleled in the hiftory of any nation, bhc has promifed, that, duiing her reign, no perfon (hall be puniihed with deatb^ and iJie has kept her word. She OF RUSSIA. itk* itb’ kwijj ib: Scb Slit a HI nkl wp She is rhe firft fovereign who ever (heweJ fo much rejjard for the lives of mankind. 13y an inilitutioni equally prudent and humane, malefactors are now condemned to ferve in the mines, and other pub- lic works ; by which means their very puniihments prove of fervicc to the ftate. In other countries^ they know only how to put a criminal to death, with ail the apparatus of an executioner, without being able to prevent the perpetration of crimes. The terror of death makes, perhaps, lefs imprcflioii on thofe mifereants, who arc for the moll part bred up in idicnefs, than the fear ol punilhmeiu and hard kbour, renewed every day. lo return to the ficge of Afoph, which place was now defended by the fame perlon who had be- fore diredled the attacks againll it; the Rullians, in vain, attempted to take it by lioim ; and after f lofing a great number of men, were obliged to raife liisi the fiege. pfjJs Perseyer ANCE in his undertakings, was the diftinguifliing character of Peter the Great. In the kii! fpring of J6 and made all the neceflary preparations for fitting out a fleet againtt the lurks, to confift of nine ttxty gun thips, and of forty one, from thirty to fifty. He obliged his principal nobles, and the richer merchants, to contribute towards this arma- me.nt 5 and thinking that the clergy ought to^help f Le Fort’s memoirs. towards O F R U S S 1 A. 117 towards the common caufe, he obliged the patri- ^ arch, the biQiops, and the principal clergy, to pay down a fum of ready money to forward this cxpedi- tion, in honour of their country, and the advantage of Chrillcndom. The Coflacks were employed in building a number of thofe light boats in ufe a- ■ mongrt them, and which were excellent for the purpofe of cruizing on the coaft of Crim I artary. The Ottoman empire was alarmed at ibis powerful F armament ; the firfl that had ever been attempted on the Maeotis. The Czar’s defign was to drive the Turks and the Tartars for ever out of the Fau- rica Cherfonefus, and afterwards to edablifb a free and eafy commerce with Perfia through Georgia# % This is the very trade which the Greeks formerly carried on to Colchos, and to this peninfula of Crim Tartary, which Peter now feemed likely to fubduc# Having fubdued the Turks and the Tartars, he was willing to accuflom his people to fplcndid (hews, as well as to military toil. He made his army to te enter into Mofeow, under triumphal arches, in the midft of fuperb fire-works, and every thing that Jill* could add to the luftre of the fcftival. The foldi- ijc ers who had fought on board the Venetian faicks a- gainft the Turks, and who were a diflin6l corps of js: thcmfclves, marched firfl. Marfhal Scheremetow, the generals Gordon and Schein, admiral Le Fort, and the other general officers, all took the prece- iiIj/ dence of the monarch in this pioceffion, who dc* ji(5 dared he had no rank in the army, being defirous to convince the nobility, by his example, that me- rit was the only way to acquire military preferment. f This THE HISTORY 1 18 This triumphal entry feemed fomewhat like to thofe of the ancient Romans, in which the conquer- ors ufed to expofe the prifoners they had taken, to public view, and fometimes put them to death: In like manner, the flaves, taken in this expediti- on, followed the army; and the deferter Jacob, who had betrayed them, was drawn in an open cart, in which was a gibbet, to which his body was faftened after he had been broke upon the whccL On this occaGon was ftruck the Gift medal in Ruflia, with this remarkable legend, in the lan- guage of the country, “ Peter the First, au- guft emperor of Mofeovy On the reverfe was the city of Afoph, with thefe words : “ Vidorious by fire and water.’* Peter was very fenfibly afFeded in the midft of all thefe fuccelTcs, that his (h ps and galleys in the Tea of Afoph, had been built entirely by fo* leigncrs ; and wifhed as carneftly to have a har-^ hour in the Baltic, as upon the Euxine Sea. Accordingly, in the month of March 1677, he fem threcfcore young Piuffians of Lc Fortes re« giment into Italy, moll of them to Venice, and the reft to Leghorn, to learn the naval art, and the manner of conftruefing galleys. He likewife fent forty others into Holland to learn the method of building and working large ihips ; and others likewjfc into Germany, to ferve in the land forces, and be iuftrucled in the military difcipline of that I General Lc Eon’s MSS. nation. * O F R u S S I A. up iitii nation. At length he took a refolution to abfent •ftjj himfeir for a few years from his own dominions, in order to Jearn how to govern them the better. He tj. had a ftrong defire to improve himfeJf by his own e'’vaiion and pra(^\ice in the knowledge of naval iittj affairs, and of the feveral arts which he was fo dc- jjj firoos 10 eftablifh in his own country. He propof- ed to travel incognito through Denmark, Branden- jjjg burg, Holland, Vienna, Venice atid Rome. France and Spain were the only countries he did not take lltti **1^0 his plan ; Spain, becaufe the arts he was in queft of wer^ too much negle£lcd there; and iujt France, becaufe in that kingdom they reigned with too much orientation, and that the parade and fiate dii Bewis XlV, which had difgufted £o many crown* ed heads, ill agreed with the private manner in til propofed to travel. Moreover, he was in alienee with moft of the powers, whofe dominions * he intended to vifir, except thofe of France and likewife remembered, with refentment, ^ the little refpea flievvn by Lewis XIV. to his cm- ^ bafly in 16^7, which had proved more famous than fuccefsful: and lalUy, he already cfpoufed the caufe of Auguftus, eicclor of Saxony, with whom the prince of Conti had lately entered into a com- petition for the crown of Poland. kl! ti- CHAP. 0 120 the history CHAP. IX. Travels of Peter the Great. AVINGthus defigned tovifit thefeveral king- doms and courts above-mentioned in a pri- vate charafter, he put himfelf into the retinue of three ambaffadors *, in the fame manner as he had before mingled in the train of his generals at his triumphant entry into Mofcow. I HE three ambafladors weref, general Le Fort, tbs boyar Alexis Gollowin, commiflary general of war, and governor of Siberia, the fame who fign- ed the perpetual treaty of peace with the plenipoten- tiaries of China, upon the frontiers of that kingdom i and Wonitzin, diak, or fecretaty of date, who had been long employed in foreign courts. The chief retinue of this embafly were four chief fecretaries, twelve gentlemen, two pages for each ambaffador, a company of fifty guards, with their office s, all of the regiment of Preobrazinfki, in all t«o hundred perfons ; and the Czar, referving to himfeli only one valet-de chambre, a fervant in livery, and a dwarf, mixed with the crowd. It was an unknown thing in any hiftory, that a king of five and twenty • t Memoirs of I'ctcrsburg, and memoirs of Lc Fort. years years of age (Kould abandon his kingdom, for to learn the art of government. His vi£lory over the Turks and Tartars, the luftre of his triumphant en- try into Mofeow, the number of foreign trpops at- tached to his fjrvice, the death of John his brother, and the confinement of the princefs Sophia in a cloifler, and above all, the general refpeft ftiewn to his perfon, feemed to aflTore him the tranquillity of his ftates during his abfence. He entrulled the re- gency with the boyar Strechnef, and the knez or prince Romadonowfki, who were to deliberate with the reft of the boyars in affairs of importance. The troops formed by general Gordon remain- ed at Mofeow, to maintain every thing quiet in that capital. 1 hofe Streliizes, who were thought likely to create a difturbance, were diftributed on the frontiers of Grim Tarrary, to preferve the con- queft of Afoph, and to fupprefs the incurfions of ihe 1 artars. Having thus provided againft every inci- dent, he gave a free fcope to his pafTion of travel- ling and improving himfilf. ThxS journey having been the occaficn or pre- tence of the bloody war, which fo long traverfed, but in the end feconded, all the defigns of the Czar ; which dethroned Augulius king of Poland, and be- ftowed a crown on king Staniflaus, and then took it from him ; which made Charles XII. king O; Swe- den the firft of conquerors for nine years, and the moft unfortunate ot kings for nine more ; it is ne- ceflary to enter into a detail of thefe events, and to reprefent in what Gtuaxion liurope was ac that time. Sultan 122 THE HISTORY Sultan Mudaplia II. was feated on the Ot* toman throne ; the wcaknefs of wbofc adminillra- tion would not permit him to make any great ef- forts, either againfl Leopold, emperor of Germany, vhofe arms were fuccefsful in Hungary ; or againft the Czar, who had lately taken Afoph from him, and threatened to make himfelf matter of the huxine fca *, nor even againtt the Venetians, who had pof- fefltd themfelves of ail the Pcloponnefus John Sobiefki, king of Poland, immortalized by the viftory of Chockfim, and the deliverance of Vienna, died the feventcenth of June I6(^0, and the poffeflion of that crown was afterwards difput- ed by Auguftus eledlor of Saxony, who obtained it, and Armand prince of Conti, who had only the ho- nour of being elefted. Sweden had lately lott, but did not lament, Charles XI. her fovereign *, who was the firft king who had ever been really abfolute in that country, and who was the father of a prince ftill more fo, though it w^as abolifhed after his death. He left the crown to his Ton Charles XH. then only fifteen years of age. This was in all appearance a conjunflure the mott favourable for theCzaHs grand defign of enlarging his dominions on the gulph of Finland, and on the llde of Livonia, But he did not think it enough to harrafs the Turks on the Black Sea ; the ferrlfmems on the Palus Mieotis, and the herders of the Cafpian Tea, were not fuf- ficient to anfwer his prejedbs of navigation, com- • April, 1(5^7, mcrce OF RUSSIA. J23 mtk! fp ;otf >fnn! ’it; W I Dflca fc 1^. rsjs ofc caip 90! k ceifi: iitc; E: !cd ,!k!.’ iii^r flifl’ ii.^r merce and power. Befidcs, plorv, being the dar- ling object of this rclornier was to be found nei- th-r in Fcrlia nor in Furkv, hut in our p.irts of Eu- rope, where great abilities and noble atchievcmenis are rcnde»ed immortal. In fine Percr did not aim at introducing either the Perfian or Turkifh man- ners among h»6 luhjefts, butthofeof England, Ger- many, and riolland. Germany then at war both with the Turks and with the hrcnch, and united with Spain, England, and Holland, againit the Angle power of Lewis X[ V. was on the point of concluding a peace j and the plenipotentiaries were already met at the caflle of Ryfwick, in the neighhourhiiod of the Hague. Affairs were in this firuation when Peter and his a nbafTidors began their journey in the month of April 1^971 by the road of great Novogoiod : fiom thence they journc)C 1 through EAhonia and Livonia, piovinces formerly difputed by the Ruffi- ans, Swedes, and Poles, and which the Swedes at lait conquered. I HE fertility of Livonia, and the fituation of Riga, its capital, were fufficient temptations to the Czar, to pofl'cfs himfcif of that country. He was defirous to fee the fortifications of the citadel But count D’Albeig, governor of Riga, taking umbrage at this rcqudt, retufed to latisfy hi^ curiofity, and treated the embaffiy with contempt. Phis behavi- our only heightened the inclination the Czar had, to make himlelf mailer of thoi'e provinces. From Livonia they proceeded to Brandenburg P/uffia, part of which had been inhabited by the VoL.I. G ancient ^,4 THE HISTORY ancient Vam'.als •, Polifli PiufTia had been in- cluded in Kuropean Salmatia. Brandenburg Piuf- fia v^as a poor country, and ill peopled ; yet Its cleSor. vho afterwards took the name of Icing, difplaycd a magnificence on this occafion, a tViing before unknown, and which he could i'll afford He piqued himfelf up n receiving this embafTy in his city of K 'uigfberg, with royal magnificence. The nioft lumptuous pre- fents were made on both iiJes. Ihe contrail bt tween the French drefs, which the court of Ber- lin affeclcd, and the long Afiaiic robes of the Roffian;, with their caps buttoned up with pearls and ciamonds, and their fctmiiars hanging at their fides, produced a fmgular efFciT. Ihekzarwas dreffed after the German faffiion. Ihe prince of (jforeia, who accontpanied him, was clad in a Per- liar, habit, which difplayed a different magnificence. Ibis prince was taken ptifoner afterwards at the l attle of Narva. I'eter defplfed all this external pomp; it wf'r.lci have been hf^ppy for him, that he ha*l Ihe’^n an equal contempt for the pleafures of the table, in which the Germans, at that time, placed the.r vv'bolc ciclight. It was at one of thde emeitain- ments f, then too much in vogue, and which aie r.hke rlcftrudive to health and morality, that lic drew his fword upon his favouiice Le Fort; but exp’-eflbd as much (orrow lor this fudden Tally cf ^ as Alexander did for the murder of Cly tus. f Lc Fort's MS. nremoirs. o F R u S S I A. 1,5 snijf tus. He afked pardon of Le Fort, friyinj, that lie wanted to reform his fubjecls, tut coaid not tt; yet reform himfdf. General Le Fort, in his J5, manufcript, praifes the Czar more for his good- ie., nefs of heart, than he blames him for his excels of pafTun. fe The ambafTadors then travelled through Pome- rsnia and Bc.rl.n; and from thence, one prrt took Itt: through Magdeburg, and the other by ra: _ Hamburg, a city coufidcrable for its exienfive !t2; ct'nimerce, but not fo rich and populous as it has b-'come fince From thrnce they dirraed their , route towards Minden, pafle.) through Weffphalia, li'L l^"gtb, by the way of Cieves, arrived at Am- lletdtm. ii.: Twii Czar arrived at this city fifteen days be- ^ fore the ambairadors. At his fi.lt coming, he in a houfc belonging to the Fall India c( m- pany ; but foon afterwards, chofe a fmall apartment in the dock-yard, belonging to the admiralty. ^ He clothed hia felf in the habit of a Dutch fkip- ' ‘ per, and in that drefs went to the village of baar- ■' dam, a pi ce where at that time, a gr at many n ore 'j fliips were built than at prefent. 1 his village is as great, as populous, as rich, and much neater, than i-' many opulent cities. Ihe Czar greatly admired I'd the multitude of men who were conftantly cm* kf' ployed there, the or.ler and exadnefs of their la- hours, the prod gious celciity with which they aS' built and fitted out Ihips, and the incredible quau- tity ol magazines and machines (or the greater eafe and fecurity of labour. The Czar began with pur- C i chafing 126 the history cliafing a beat, to which he marfe a ir.aft himfelf; after that, be worked upon all the different parts in the cr nlliuOion of a velTel, being clothed and fed in the fame manner as the mcancll workmen, working in the forges, the rope yards, and rn fe- veral mills, which abound in prodigious numbers in that tillage, for tawing timber, extra£ling oil, making paper, and wire-drawing. Hecauied him- felt to be inrclled in the lilt oi carpenters, b\ the naive of Peter Mrchaelhoff, and was commonly called Peter Bas, or Malfer Peter : tl.e workmen were at firll alhamed at having a c'owned head for a lellow-labouier, but foot) became familiaiifed to the fight. \\ HILE he was thus handling the compafs and the ax at Saaidam, a confirmation was brought him of the divifion in Poland, and of the double nomi- nation ot the eleftor Augultus, and the prince of Conti 1 he carpenter of Saardam inimcdiatedly promifed king Augultus to aliift him with tbiity thoufand men, and from his work-loft iffued out or- ders to his army that was affcmbled in the Ukraine agamll the Turks. his troops were vidorious over the Tartars near a\foph t* a few months afterwards took ttom them the city of t T, or Orkapi, which we call l*re- cop He dill continued improving in different arts: he went frequently from Saardam to Amfter- dam, to hear the iidurcs of the celebrated anato- mill Kuyfeh, and made himfelf roafter of feveral t nth operations OF RUSSIA. 117 llili V,) icr z-:. m •?s tc:: LB’I ::s3 lid iT‘ j^a 0 IlJ 0 1 ^ d'r operations In fur^cry, which mi^ht render himfelf ufeful both to hi.Tifelf and his ofHccrs He went through a courle of natural pliilofophvi In the houfe of the Burgo-maftcr VVitzen, ejlcbrated for his patriotic virtue, and the noble ufe he made of his inimenfe foitunc, which he employed like a common friend to mankind, fending naen of abili- ties, at a great expeuce, to all parts of the globe, in fearch of whatever was curious and v.»iuable, and fitting out vefTels at his own cxpence, to difeover new countries. Peter I3as had fufpended his labours for a fhort time, to pay a private vifit at Utrecht, and at the Hague, to William King of iing!and,and ftadthol- der of the united provinces. General Le Fort was the only perfon admitted to the private conference of the two monarchs. Peter affisicd afterwards at the public entry of his ambafladors, and a: their audience ! they prefented in his name to the de- puty of the ftates fix hundred of the moft beautiful fables that could be procured j and the ftates, over and above the cuftomary prefents on thefc occafionf , of a gold chain and medal, gave them three mag- nificent coaches. They received 'the firft viGrs of all the plenipotentiaries who were at the congrcis of Ryfwick, excepting ihofe of France, to whom they had not notified their arrival » not only bccaufc the Czar efpoufed the caufe of Augullus againft the prince of Conti, bot alfo bccaufc king William, whofc fticndlhip he was fond of cultivating, wa^ averfe to a peace with France, At hU return to Amfterdam, he refumed his G 3 former 128 THE HISTORY former labours, ami finiOied with his own hands a fliip of lixly guns, that he had begun himfelf, and fent her to Archangel, which was the only port he had at that tifne on the oceati. He not only engaged in his fervice fcvcral French refugees, Swifs and Germans *, but he aifo fent all fons of ariifts over to Ivlofcow, and he pre- viut’lly made a trial of their fcveral abilities him- fclf. 1 here are few trades or arts which he did not perferSlIy underftand : he tool; a particular pleafure in correfling geographical maps, the au- thors of which had but a flight knowledge of his dominions, and frequently fixed the fituation of towers, and the courfe of rivers, without a. proper knowledge of them. There is ilill prcfcived a map, on which he marked our, with his own hand, his projected communication of the Cafpian and Black feas, the execution of which he had given in charge to Mr Brckel, a German engi- neer. 'Ihe junftion of ihofe two feas was indeed a lefs arduous enterprife than that of the ocean and Mediterranean, which was executed in France ; but the very idea of joining the fca cf Afoph with the Cafpian, aflonilbed the ima- gination at that lime *, but new eflablifliments in that country became the object of his atten- tion, in proportion as his fuccefles begat new hopes. His troops, commanded by general Shein, and prince Dolgorowfki, had lately gained a vitlory o- ver the Tartars near Afoph, and likewife over a bo- dy of Janizaries fent by fultan. Muliapiia to their ailiitancc. b: di,z OF RUSSIA. 1 29 afTiftance t. This fuccefs made hiiii more refpe£N cd, even by thofe who blamed hi;n for quitting his dominions, to turn workman at AnJlcrdam. 1 hey now faw ihat the weighty affairs of the monarch did not fuffer by the labours of the philofopher, the traveller, and the artifl. He continued at Amfterdam, employ’d in 1 ir. ufual occupations of Ihip-building, engineering, geography, and the praftice of natural philofophy, till the middle of January <695, when he fet cut for England, but Itili as one of the retinue of his ambaifadors. King William Tent his own yacht to meet him, and two (hips of war as convoy. In England he obferved the fame way of living as at Amfterdarn and Saardam ; he took an apartment near the king’s dock-yard at Deptford, where he applied his time wholly to gain farther inftrudlion- The Dutch builders had only taught him the praflical part of Ihip-building In England, he found the art bet- ter explained; for there they work according to ma- themarical proportion. He Toon- made himfclf maf** K ler of the theory, and was able to give IcfTons to others. He began to build a (hip according to i the Eoglifl) method of conQrudlion, and it proved an excellent fallor. The art of wa ch- making, ■f which was brought to peifcclion in L(»ndon, next drew his atteiuion, and he made himlelf cqmplcat 51' niahcr of the whole theory upon wliich the priri- ir ciples of watch-making is founded ; captain Perry, \ July, itfjS. G 4 the THE HISTORY *30 ihe engineer who followed him from London to Rudia, affirms, that from the calling of cannon, to the fpinning of ropes, there was not one branch of trade belonging to a fhip that he did not minute- ly underftand, and even put his hand to, as often as he came into the places where thofe trades were carried on. In order to cultivate his friendlhip, king Wil- liam allowed him to engage fevcral Englifh artifi- cers into his fervice, as he had done in Holland 5 but befides artificers, he engaged likcwife fomc mathematicians, whom he could not fo eafily pro- cure in Holland. One Fergufon, a Scotchman, an excellent geometrician, entered into his fervice, and was the firft perfon who brought arithmetic into ufe in the exchequer in Rudia, where, before that time, they made ufe only of the Tartarian me- thod of reckoning, with balls (Irung upon a wire: a method which fupplied the place of writing, but was very perplexing and imperfedl, becaufc, after the calculation, there was no method of proving it, in order to difeover if there was any miltakc. The Indian cyphers, which are now in ufe, were not introduced amongft us till the ninth century, by the Arabians; and they were not received in- to the Ruffian empire, till many centuries after- wards. 1 his has been the fate of the arts, to make their progrefs flowly round the globe. He took with him two young ftudents from a mathe- matical fchool, and this was the beginning of the marine academy, founded afterwards by Peter the Great. He obferved and calculated eclipfes with Fergufon. OF R U S S I' A. 13* im clfB Itlfl lUi ibi |lila illili iSii ailji iditt ir otl) »)i m prcB: ft! fill!! f£5 |]S^ fKf* Fergufoii. Perry the cng^incer, though greatly diflatitfied, not being fufficiently rewarded, ac« knovvlrdges, that Pcccr maorant people were appointed to inOruct o* thers a* ignorant, to believe the earth to be im- moveable. Pehrt fet out in order to effect a junction of rivers, to build bridges, and condruCt Iluices. The Czar’s plan was to open a conun unication by canals between, the ocean, the Calpian, and the Black bed. It ought nor to be forgotten, that a company of Kngiilh merchant-, with the ma quis of Car- manhen at theii head, i>ave Fttcr htiecn thoufand pounds for the pcrmitlivin ol leliing loo'.cco in Rulfia. The patriarch, by a miftaken Tevcritv, had forbid this branch of traile; for the Ruffian church forbid frr.oaking, as an unclean and finful action. Peter, who knew better things, and who, amongft his other pnjei^ts, meditated a reiormation of the chuich, made thio a pretext for iraduig into his doniiuicns. G s Before 132 T H E H I S T O Ft Y Before lleter left England, he was entertained by king William with a Hiew worthy Inch a gueft; this was a mock fea fight. Little was it then ima- gined, that the Czar would one day fight real bat- tles on this elenr.ent againft the Swedes, and obtain vi£lories in the Baltic. King William made him a preTcnt of the vefl'el in which he uTed to go over to Holland, called the l^pyal rrar.fport, a beauti- ful yacht, and magnificently adorned. In this yacht Peter failed to Holland the latter end of 1 taking v/ith him three captains of (hips of war, five and twenty captains of merchant (hips, forty lieutenant?, thirty pilots^ thirty furgeons, two hundred and fifty gunners, and upwards of three hundred artificers. 1 his little colony of ingenious perfons in all bianchcs, failed from Holland to Archangel, on hoard the Royal Tran- fpoit, and from thence were Ent into all the dif- ferent places where their Lrvices were neccff.iry. 'I hofe who had been engaged at Amfterdani, went by the way of Narva, which then belonged to the Swedes. While Peter was thus tranfplanting the arts and manufaddures of England and Hollaod into his own country, the officers, whom he bad fent to Ro.ne, and other places in Italy, had likewife engaged fcveral artilU in his fcrvice. Gcncr.tl Jichcremetow, wlio was at the bead ol his cmbcily to Italy, took the tour of Rome, Csaple.-, Venice, ;iud Malta, while the Czar j urncytd to Vie-nna with his other an-bafladors. He wanted oni) to view the n.iiicary dilcipline of the Germans, alter having OF RUSSIA. 133 having feen the Fnglifh fleets and the dock-yards of Holland. Political reafons, as well as itn* provements, drew the Czar here. The emperor was his natural ally againft the Turks Peter had a piivate audience of l.copold, and the two monarchs conferred (landing, to avoid the trouble of ceremony. There happened nothing remarkable during his (lay at Vienna, except the celebration of the ancient fead of Landlord :and Landlady, which had been difufed for a confiderable time, and which Leopold thought proper to revive upon the CzaPb account. 1 his fealt, wh.ch the Ger- mans call VV^irtfehaf, is celebrated in the follcw.rg manner ; The emperor is landlord and ihe emprefs laml- lady i the king of the Homans, the* archdukes and the arch'O«K)^K}0t><5eC)e(K)e(H)6(K)8(M}9C> On &■ C H A P. X. ikii "*■ AConspiract punished. rdx »p m f!f,r The Strelitzes aboUjbed^ Changes in cujlems^ maU’^ nersyjlate^ and church. E T E R, when he fet out on his travels, had provided a^ainft every accident that might happen, even that of a rebellion. But all the toils and fatigues he had underwent to aggran- dize his country, proved the caufe of this piefent revolt. Some boyars, who had a great regard for the ancient cuQoms, and fome priefts, to whom the new culloms appeared little better than facrilege, began thefe dillurbanccs ; upon this the old friends iki of the princefs Sophia took this opportunity to (hew «i themfclves. One of her lifters, who was ftiut up in the fame monaftery, contributed chiefly to ex- cite thefe feoitions. It was reprefented by all (ides, that the nation was in the utmoft danger from the introduction of foreigners to improve it. In fine, who would believe, that the f p-roiiflion which the Czar had given to import tobacco into his empire, contrary to the inclination of the clcr- gy> was one of the ftrongeft motives to rebellion? f Lc Fort’s MSSt Superftition, 1^6 THE HISTORY Superftitlon, the fcourge of every country, and yet the delight of the multitud/, fpread itfelf from the common people to the Strelitzcs, who had been fcattered on the frontiers of Lithuania: they af- feiT.bled in a body, and marched towards Mof^ cow, with the intent to place the princefs Sophia on the throne, and for ever to prevent the return of a Czar who had violated the eftablifbed cullorr.s of his country, by prefuming to travel for inllruc- tion among foreigners. Ihe foices commanded by bchein and Gordon, wha were much better dii- ciplined than the Strelitzes, met with them fif* reen leagues from Mofeow, gave them bailie, and entirely defeated them; but this advantage gained by a foreign general over the ancient mi- litia, among whom were fevcial of the burghers of Mofeow, contributed Hill more to inflame the people. lo quell thefe tumults, the Czar fets out pri- vately from Vienna, pafles through Poland, has a private interview with Augullus, concerts mea- lures wjh that prince for extending the Ruflian dominions on the fide of the Baltic, and at length arrived at Mofeow, where he furprifed them all wi;h his preience f; he thm confers rewards on the troops v^ho had routed the Strelitzes, of whom the prirens were now full. If their crimes were great, their j unifhnient was as great. fheir cliic s, with fcveral of t^eir ofHcers and priefts, weie condemned to death j fome were bioke t September 16 ^ 8 , upon OF RUSSIA. *37 upon th^ wheel fi two women were buried a- live ; upwards of two thoufand of the Strelitzes were hanged, part of whom were hung round a- brut the walls of the city, and others put to death in different manners, and their dead bodies re- mained expofed for two days in the high roads, particularly about the monaftery where the prin- ci:ff s Sophia and Eudocia refided Monuments of (lone were eicfted, on which their crimes and ’ ' punifhmcnts were engraven. A great number of them who had wives and children at Mofeow, were difperfed with their families into Siberia, to the kingdom of Aflracan, and the country of A- foph. Their punifhmcnt was ufeful to the ftate, as they helped to cultivate and people a large tia£b ilifE of land, which wanted inhabitants and improve- vii ment Perhaps, if the Czar had not fecn it abfolute- fas ly necelfary to make fuch dreadful examples, he V' might have employed parr of thefc Strelitzes, whom m he put to death, upon the public works \ whereas r:i thfy were now loll both to him and the flate: the lin li\Cb of men ought to be held in great eftimation, dr Cipecially in a country where the cncreafc of in- ;fir hanitiiiits ought to have been the principal care of }^;;f the t'vcrcign •, but he thought it neceflary to ter- {j.;. rity and lubdue the fpirit ot th; nation by cxccu- ^ 1 . . tions ana the parade attending them. 1 he entire I ;■ . f M«tiio»rk of captain Perry the engineer, employed by Peter the Grc.t in Kuflia.at d MSS, of Lc Port. } MSS, of Lc t'oit. corps 138 THE HISTORY corps of the Strelitxcs, whofe nutnbcr not one of his prcrlectdors had even dared to think of redu- cing, was broke for ever, and their very name a- boliilied This revolt wa«i efFerted without any re- fifbncc, bccaufe matters had been property prepa- red beforehand. The Tiukifh fultan, t^fman, as I have already remarked, was depofed and ftrjngled in the fame century, only forgiving the Janizaries room to fufpeft that he intended to reduce their number. Peter had better fuccefs, becaufe bis mcafurcs were brttei concerted. Of this powerful and numerous body of the Strtlitzes, he left only feme weak regiments, from whom there could no longer be any danger ; and yet thefe, Hill retaining their old fpirit ol miuiny, re- volted again in Aftracan, in the )rear 170 , but were foon quelled. But Peter’s humanity was equal to his feverity: this he ihewed fome time afterwards, when he loft his favourite Lc Fort, who was fnatched awjy by an untimely fate X* the age of forty fix He ho- noured him with a f uneral pouip equal to the great- eft lovereigns, and i.ffi.ced himfclf in the proceftion, carrying a pike in bis hand, and marching a ter the c ;ptain^, in the rank of a lieutenant, which he held in the deccafed general’s regiment, hereby tet- ting an example to his nobles, ol the refpeft due to merit and the military rank. After the death of l.e Fort, it appeared plain- ly, that the changes in the Hate were not owing to that f March la, i^pp, N, S; OF RUSSIA. 139 »t» fjini nil 1 «)k rtttt koi li^i iom Pi» m -If k\ id I' lOlill r- xis [S5 that general, but to the Czar himfelf. Peter had indeed been confirmed in his defign, by his fcveral converfations with Le Fort; but had planned and executed them all without his aid or aflidance. As foon as he had fupprefled the Strelitzes, he formed regular regiments on the German model, who were all clothed in a ihort uniform, inflead of thofe long and troublefome coats, which they ufed to wear before and, at the fame time, they were taught a regular excrcife. The regiment of Preobrazinfki guards were aU ready formed 5 it had taken its name from the firft company of fifty men, whom the Czar had trained up in his younger days in his retreat at Preobra- zinfki, at the time when his fifter Sophia governed the (late, and the other regiment of guards was alfo cflablifhed. As he had pafied through the lowcft degrees in the army, he ordered that the fons of his boyars and knezes fhould ferve as common foldiers before they were made officers. He fent f©me of the young nobility on board his fleet at Weronitz and Afoph, where he obliged them to ferve their apprenticeflup as common feamen. No perfon duril refufe to o- bey the commands of a mafter, who had fet the example himfelf. The linglifh and Dutch he had brought over with him were employed in equip- ping this fleet for fea, in conltru£fing fluices, and building docks for careening the (hips, and to re* fume the great work of joining the Don and the Volga, which had been given over by Brckel the German. And now he began to reform the coun- cil 140 THE HISTORY cil of Hate, the revenue, the church, and even fo« cicty itfclf. The revenue had been hitherto tranfaAed much in the fame manner as in I'urky. Each boyar paid a Oipulated fum for his lands, which he raifed upm his vafl'als *, the Czar appointed certain burghers and burgomailers, to be his receivers, who wcic too weak to claim the right of paying only fuch fums as they thought proper, into the public trea- fury. I'his new adminiilration of the revenue cofl hinn the moft trouble : he was obliged to try fevcral fehemes before he could fix upon a proper one. The reformation of the church, which in all o* tber countries is looked upon as a dangerous and difficult talk^ proved cafy to him. The patriarchs had at times oppofed the authority of the cown, aS well as the btrclitzes ; Nicon with infolcncc, Jo- achin, one of his lucctflbis, with cunning and fub- tiity. The bifliops had arrogated the power of life and death, a prerogative directly contrary to the fpirit of reJigi JT-J te‘ ffji: !rf‘‘ '(ti^ is:* OF RUSSIA. very baJ one in countries where a man is tied to one wife, a.id where divorces are feldom allowed. The Czar wanted to accuftom his people to the manners and cuftoms of the nations which he had feen in his travels, and from whence he had taken the mafters who were now initrufting them. It was proper, that the Rufliuis (hould not be clothed in a difFcrcnt manner from thofe who were reaching them the arts ; becaufe the hatred to (fra - ger*^, which is but too natural to mankind, is not a little kept up by a difference of drefs. The full drefs, which at that time partook of the fafhions of the Poles, the Tartars, an i the ancient Hungarians, was, as we have elfewhere obferved, very noble ; but the drefs worn by the burghers and conmoii people rci'embled thofe jackets plaited round the vald, which are dill given to the poor, in fome of the French hofpitals. For the moll pait, the robe was generally the drefs of all nations, as being a garment thdt required the leall tioublc and art; and for this reafon, the bearti was fulfercd to grow. The Czar had but little difficulty in introducing our mode of drefs, and the cuflom of ll.avmg a- n'.oiig his courticis ; but the people were more difBculc, and he f«'und himfeU obliged to lay a tax on long coats and beards. Patterns oi coats were hung up in public places ; and whoever refufed to p^y the tax, were obliged to fud'er their robes, and their beards, to be fliortened. All this was done in a jacu’ar manner, and this air of [dcafaniry pre- vented rebel ion?. It hi: ever been the dcfiga of all wife legifli- tors, 146 THE HISTORY tors to render mankind more fociable; but it is nor fufBcient to accomplifti this end, that they live together in towns \ there muft be a mutual inrer* coiirfe of civility. Ibis intercourfe fwcctrn- all the bitternefs of life. The Czar, therefore, intro- duced thefe aflVmblies, which the Ir-ilian^ call rf* detti To thefe afiemblies he invited all thebdies of the court, with their daughters, and they w re to appear drefled after the faGiions of the fouthern nations of b uropc He was himfdf at the pains of drawing up rules of decorum to be obferved at thefe focial cntcitainmcnts. Thus even to good manners among his fubjecis, was his own work, and which time nccompliflies. To make bis people bertcr pleafed with thefe la* novations, he aboliihed the word gohit^ Jl^ve^ al- ways made ufe of by the BuCTians when they ad- dreffed their Czar, or . prefented any petition to him \ and ordered, that, for the future, they fliould make ufe of the word raab^ which figiiifies/w^yV^* This alteration did not diminifh the obedience due to the fovereign, and yet was the mod likely means of conciliating their aficftiona. Every month was produ£livc of lomc new change or iuflitution. He carried his attention even to the ordering pofts to be fet up in the road betwixt Molcow and Woro- iiitz, to ferve as milestones at the diflance of eve- ry verlt, that is to fay, every Icvcn hundreil paces; and bad a kind of caravanferas, cr public inns, built at the end of every twentieth vet It. While he was thus extending his concerns for the common people, the merchants, and the travel- ler, OF RUSSIA. M7 Icr, he refolved to make an addition to the brillian- ufc Qy q( |^j *5 own court. For though he was an ene» my to pomp or (hew in his own perfon, he thought it neceflary in thofe about him. For this purpoTe he infiituted the order of St. Andrew f, in imita- “‘*1 tion of the feveral orders with which all the courts of Europe abound. Golowin, fuccciTor to Le Fort in the dignity of high admiral, was the firft knight ikk of this order. It was efteemed an high reward, to itiift have the honour of bring admitted a member. It toife was a kind of badge that entitled the perfon who m\ bore it to the veneration of the publick. This mark fiifii of honour cofts nothing to the fovereign, and flat- ters the fcif love of a fubjeft, without giving him liiillf any additional power. So many iifcful innovations were received with m applaufe by the wifeft part of the nation ; and the ijpai murmurings and complaints of thofe who had ad- Cjlkil hered to the ancient culloms, were filcnced by jjj^i the acclamations c f men of found judgment. While Peter was thus making a new creation llljr, in the interior part of his date, he concluded an ad- rftfS ^antageous truce with the Turks, which allowed lidiift liberty to extend his territories on another fide. Mudapha the Second, who bad been defeat- ed by prince Eugene, at the battle of Zenta in bitfJ Gripped of the Morca by the Venetians, and Kftf to defend Afoph, was obliged to make peace with his viaorious enemies ; this peace was con- cluded at Carlowitz, between Peterwaradin and Sa- VoL. I. H lankamen, fSept. loth itf9S. It is to be obfcrvcil that I always follow the new flylc in my dates. 1 48 THE HISTORY nnkamen, places now famous by his defeats *. Te- mafwaer was made the boundary of the Germaa and (.Htoman dominions. Kaminiek was reftored to the Poles ; the Morea, and feme towns in Dal- maiia, which had been taken by the Venetians, te- rr.ained in their hands for fome time •, and Peier the Fill! ccntinited in pdf flion of Afoph, and of a few forts raifed in its neighbouihood. It was impoffible (or the Czar to extend bis do- minions on the fide of Tutky, as the forces of that empire would be united againft him, which were formerly divided. His naval projecls were too large lor the Palus Mseotis, and the lettlements on the Cafpian Sea would not admit of a fleet of men of war: he therefore turned his views towards the Baltic Sea, but without relinquifiung the navigation of the I'anais and W olga. CHAP. XI. War with Sweden. The Battle of Narva. N “’OW a grand feene was opened cn the fron- tiers of Sweden t- One of the principal caules of ail the revolutions which happened from Incria, as far as Diefden, and which laid fo VMOJ ® countries I CODi fllf. QDO) tiow ceil b Sfd tine Clio Ciur nold holr pro’ :| tfec ^ tear I ind I and efc wli va Pol to (el I 001 Jan . zC . t 1790. h OF RUSSIA. 149 itGn mi tcso: rcaii ijtil , [tt«; fe: ,itt ctte ii«j Slow :tC5Jj ffli ik?‘ \f^ 0 (<* countries wafle for the fpace oF eighteen years, was the abufe of the fuprcme power under Cliarles XF. king ot Sweden, father of Charles XII This fa£l cannot be too often repeated, as it concerns every crowned head, and the fuf jedls of every nation. Al- moft all Livonia, with the whole of iiflonia, had been abandoned by Poland to Charles XL king of Sweden, who fucceeded Charles X. prccifdyat the time of the treaty of Oliva. It was ceded, as is the cuftom, with a refervation of rights and privileges. Charles XI having little regard to them, John Re* nold Paikul, a Livonian gentleman, came to Stock- holm in at the head of lix deputies of the province, and laid their complaints at the font of the throne, in refpeftful, but llrong terms f. In- ftcad or an anfwer, the fix deputies were impriforrcd, and Paikui was condemned to lofe both his honour and his lire But he loft neither, lor he made his efcape to the country of Vaud in Switzerland, where he remained feme time. When he after- wards was informed, that Auguftus, elc(3:or of Saxo- ny, had promiled at his acceflion to the throne of Poland, to recover the provinces that had been wrelled from that kingdom ; he went to' Drefden, to thew that prince how eafily he might make him- felt mailer ot Livonia, and rSvenge himielf upon a H 2 king, f Norberg, chaplain and conftfTar to Charles XIT*. fays in hii? U* flory, *• That he had the infolcnce to complain of opp c-nions, and that *• l\c was condemned to lofc his honour atid life.** This is fpeaking like the priei of dcfpatifm He ihould have obferved, tliat no one can deprive a citizen or l.n honour, for doin2 hi^ duty. ,50 THE HISTORY klnp, only feventeen years of ape, for the Ioffes that Poland had fuftained by his anceftors. At the fame time Peter was cn, ploying his thoughts on feizing Inpria and Carelia. Fhefe pro* Vince's had formerly belonged to the Ruffians, but the Swedes bad made ihcmfelvcs mailers of them by Icrcc of arms, in the time of the falfe Oemetnuss, and bad kept the ptff.frion of them by treaties: an* other war and new treaties might reffore them a* gain to Ruffia Patkul went from Drefden to Mof* cow, and having ftirred up the two monarchs to a* vengc his caufe, he cemented a clofe union between them, and hailened their preparations for invading all the places fituated to the caff and fouth ot Fin* land. At this time alfo, the new king of Denmark, Frederic IV entered into an alliance with the Czar and the king ot Poland, againfl Charles, the young king of Sweden, who feemed not able to withftand their united forces. Patkul had the fatisfailion of befieging the Swedes in Riga, the capital of Livo- nia, and commanding as a major-general. The Czar marched near fixty thoufand men in- to Ingria. It is true, that, in this great army, he had no more than twelve thoufand regular foldters, being thole he had dii'JTplined httnfelf ; namely, the two regiments of guards, and fome few others, the rell being a badly armed militia, with fome Cof* facks, and CircafTtan Tartars ; but he carried with him one hundred and forty-five pieces of emnon. He laid fiegc to Narva, a fmall town in Ingria, that had a very commodious harbour, and it was gene^ rally thought the place would be foon taken. All hurope know ♦, how Charles XII. when not quite aghceeii years of age, withftood all his enemies, and attacked them one after another. He entered Denmark, put an end to the war in that kingdom in Ids than fix weeks, fent reinforcements to Riga, obliged the enemy to raife the fiege, and marching againlltheRuflianc, encamped before Mar- va, through the midll of ice and fnow, in the month of November. The Czar, who looked upon Narva as his own, was gone to Novogorod,. and had taken with Ihiu his favourite MenzikofF, then a lieutenant in the company of bombardiers of the Preobrazinlki regi- ment f , and afterwards raifed to the rank of field- marlhal, and prince ^ a man whofe amazing (or^ tunes entitle him to be fpoken of more fully in an- other place. Peter left the command of the army, with in- ftru^ions for the fiege, with the prince of Croy ; whole family came from Flanders, and who had lately entered into the Czar’s fervicc Prince Dolgorouki was comn.ilTary of the army* The jea- Joufy between thefc two chiefs, and the abfcnce of the Czar, was one reafon ot the unparalleled defeat at Narva. Charles XII. having landed at Pernau in Li* vonla with his troops, in the month of 06 lobcr, H 3 marched • Sept. 1700. f Nov. ^ See the hidory of Charles XII, 151 THE HISTORY marched northward to . Revel, where he defeated an advanced body of Ruffians, He continued his march, and meeting with another body, routed that likc- wifc. "1 he routed troops returned to the camp be- fore Narva, which they filled jwith conflernation. The month of November was far advanced ; Nar- va, though unlkilfuUy bcfieged, was on the point of furrendcring. The young king of Sweden had not at that time above nine thoufand men with him, and could bring only ten pieces of cannon to op- pofe an hundred and forty* five, with which the Ruffian entrenchments were defended. All the relations of that time, and all hifiorians, without exception, agree in making the Ruffian army then before Narva amount to eighty thoufand men. The memoirs with which I have been furniffied fay Cxty thoufand ; be that as it will, it is certain, that Charles had not quite nine thoufand, and that this battle was one of thofe, which evince, that the greateft vidories have been frequently gained by inferior numbers, ever fince the famed one of A- rabella. Charles was not afraid to attack this great ar- my, wdth his fmall number ©f troops : and taking advantage of a violent wind, and a great ftorm of fnow, which blew diredUy in the faces of the Ruf* fians, he attacked their entrenchments under cover of fomc pieces of cannon §, which he had polled advantageoufly for the purpofe. The Ruffians had not time to form themfclves in the midft of that cloud S Nov. 30. 1 700, OF RUSSIA. 153 :fe liie; tii(: tnc ifet \t iiii: IKSl lb J [i!,n i;i!r \m itiiji m. D^ik <.« m ip di life liiii) siffJ cloud of fnow, that beat full in their faces, and a- floniihed by the difcharge of cannon, that they could not fee \ and did not know the weaknefs of Charles’s army. The duke de Croy attempted to give his orders, but prince Uolgorouki would not obey them, ihe RulTian ofBcers rofe upon the German cfTicers : and murdered the duke’s fecreiary, colonel Lyon, and feveral ethers. Lvery one abandoned his pod ; and tumult, confufion, and a panic terror, fpread through the whole army. The Swedifh troops had nothing more to do, but to cut in pieces thofe who were flying. Some threw thcmfclves into the river Narva, where great numbers were drowned *, others threw down their arms, and begged lor quarters from the conquering Swedes. The duke dc Croy, general Allard, and the reft of the general officers, dreaded the Ruffians more than the Swedes, and went in a body and lurrender- cd thcmfclves prhoners to count Stcinbok. The king of Sweden now became mafter of all the ar- tillery. Thirty thoufand of the varquiflied enemy laid down their arms at his Icet, and filed of bare- headed and difarmed before him. Prince Uolgo- rouki, and all the Ruffi in generals, came and fur^ rendered themfelve>, as well as the Germans,, but did not know till fome time after they had fur- rendered, that they had been conquered by eight thoufand men. Amongll the prifoners was the fon ol a king of Georgia, whom Charles fent to Stockholm ^ his name was Mittellky Czarovitz, or Czar’s fon, a further proof, that me title ot Czar, H 4 or or Tzar, bad not its original from the Roman fars. Chai^les XII. loft no more than one thoufand two hundred men in this battle. The Czar’s jour- nal, which has been fent me from Peterfburg, fays, that including thofc who died at the fiege of Narva, and in the battle, and tbofe who were drowned in their flight, the Ruflinns loft no more than fix thou- fand nun. Want of difcipline, and a panic that feized the army, was the foie caufe of the lofs of this battle. I hc captives were four times greater in number than the conquerors ; and if we may be- lieve Norberg f, count Piper, who was afterwards taken prifoncr by the KuITians, reproached them, that the number of their people made prifoners in the battle exceeded by eight times the number of the whole Swedifh army. If this is truth, the Swedes muft have made upwards of fevcniy two thoufand prifoners. This ftiews how feidom writers come at the truth of particular circumftances. One thing, however, equally incontcftible and extraordi- nary is, that the king of Sweden fliould tell one half of the Ruffian foldiers to go back, after having difarmed them, and the other half to repafs the ri- ver, with their arms ; by this unaccountable con- duct, reftoring to the Czar troops, that, being aftrr- wards well dilciplmcd, became invincible towards their enemies j:. f Vol I p 4? 9 of (he 4(0 edition printed at the Hague. I Ti.e cha^ urn Norbeig pretends, rhat. inim -diateiy after (he bal- fTe ot Nar a. the (irand Sigmor wrote a letter of congratulation to the King ot ;Swedeu, in ihcfe Cenns,. ** I'bc fultan iSalli, by the grace Charles Charles reaped all the advantages that could be had from a compleat vi£lory. Immcnfe maga- zines, tranfports loaden with provifions, the enemies pods evacuated or taken, and the whole country in poircflTion of the Swedes, were conlcqucnces of the fortune of this day. Narva was now relieved, the {battered remains of the Ruffian army durft not Oiew thcmfclves i the whole country as far as Plelkow lay open ; the Czar feemed to have loll all refourcc for carrying on the war; and the king ot Sweden, viftorious in lefs than twelve montus over the mo* narchs ot* Denmark, Poland, and Ruffu, was look- ed upon as the firll prince in liurope, at an age when other princes hardly think of military glory. But Peter's unihaken conllancy prevented him from be- ing difeouraged in any ot his projects. A Russian bilhop compoied a prayer to St Ni« cholas t, on this occafion, which was publicly read in all the churches throughout Kuffia Phis cooi- pofition fhews the fpirit of the ti nes, and the incx- prcffible Ignorance fro»n which Peter delivered hi; couniry. Amongit other things, it lays, that the furious and terrible Swedes were forccrers; and com- plains that St. 'Nicholas had entirely abaiuioned nis Ruffians. Ihe prelates o that country would blufh to w ite fuch iluff at prefent ; and, without any of- fence to the holy St. Nicholas, the people loon per- ** of GoJ, to Charles XU. &c,’* The letter was dated from the acra of tr.e crcdtion of the world. f Thi> prayer is primed in mod ot the journals and hi forical pieces of ihefu limes. It L inferted in thehutory ot Charles Xil. kin^ of Sweden. H 5 ccived ceived that Peter was the moft proper perfon to be addreOed. CHAP. XII. Refcurces after the battle of Narva, ^hat difajler entirety repaired. Peter gamins a victory near the fame place. He executes great dtftgns in Rujfia. The perfon^ v)ho was afterwards emprefs. made cejfi's. His triumph at Mofeow %. The years 1701 and 1702. H E Czar having quitted his army before Narva, towards the end of November 1 00, in order to go and concert with the king of Poland, was informed on the road, of the victory gamed by the Swedes. His conftancy in aJI emer^iencies was equal to the intrepidity and valour oi Charles. He deferred his conference with Auguitus, and baftened to apply a fpeedy remedy to the difoider* ed Pate of his affairs. The difperfed tr» ops leii- dezvoufed at great Novogorod, and went from thence to Plefltow, on the L^kc Peipus. prifoner at the Jacking of a city. Peter s Juc- I This chapfrr, and the foilouirg, arc taken colircly from iLcjcst* "al of Peter the Great, feut me rrom Pticrsbiirg. Ir OF RUSSIA. *57 It was a great deal for him to be able to (land upon the defenfive, after fo (ignal a defeat : “ I know very well, faid he, that the Swedes will a “ long time be fuperior, but at lall they will teach us to conquer them.” and ordered men to be raifcd on every fide, he goes to Mofeow to haften the calling of new cannon, his own having been all taken before Narva. There being a fcarcity of metal, he took all the bells of the churches and of the religious houfes in Mofeow. 'J'his aftion (hewed him free of fuperftition, and at W' the fame time it was no fign of impiety. With thofe bells he made one hundred large cannon, one hundred and forty-three field pieces, from three to fix pounders, befides mortars and haubitzers, which were forwarded to Pleikow. In other count.ic.s the fovereign commands, and his fiibjefts execute his orders ; but here the Czar was obliged to fee every thing done himfdf. While he was making thefe preparations, he entered into a negotiation w ith the king of Denmark, who engaged to afiill liim with three regiments of foot, and three ot borfe *, an engagement which that monarch couUl not fulfil. \ No iVoncr was this treaty figncd, than he hurried to the theatre of war. He had an interview with king Auguftus at Birzen, on the frontiers of Cour- land and Ifithuania His objcdl was, to con- firm that prince in his refolution of maintaining the war againlt Charles XII. and at the fame time to Peter having provided for the prefent necefiTityf, I 170J, • Feb. 17. H 6 J53 the history prevail on the PoliOi Diet to enter into the quarrel. It is well known, that a king of Poland is no more than the head perfon in the republic Peter had the advantage of being always obeyed : but the kings of Poland and England, and at prefenr the king of Sweden, are all obliged to treat with their fubjedls. Patkul and a few Poles in the interefl of their king afTidcd at thefe conferences Peter promifed to af- lift them with fubfidies, and an army of twenty-five thoufand men Livonia was to be reftored to Po- land, in cafe the diet would a£l in conjunftion with their king, and aflift in recovering thi- province: the diet hearkened more to their fears, than to the Czar’s propofaU. The Poles were apprehenfive of having their liberties retrained by the Saxons and Ruflians, and were ftill more afraid of Charles XIL Jt was therefore agreed by the majoiity, not to en- gage in the qu-atrel. The partiians of Auguftusgrew enraged againil the contrary fadlion, and a civil war was kind.ed up in the kingdom ; becaiile their monarch had an intention to recover a confiderable province. Peter then had only a weak alU in king Au- gudus and the vSaxon troops cou d be of finall fer- vice i and the terror which Charles XII* infpircd on eveiy fide, obliged Peter to the ncc<.ffity of de- pending entirely upon his own llrengt!’. After an exi'editious journey from Mofeow to Courland ♦, to confer with Augullus; he poll- ed back from Courland to Mofeow, to forward the ^ Feb, 1701, • March I, accomplifhmcnt OF RUSSIA. *59 Itt: accomplin»ment of his promifcs. Accordingly he 55^ dirpatched prince Repnin, with four thouiand men^ tif; to Rijta on the baiik.s of the Duna, where the Sax- ks on tro. ps were entrenched. iij| The rapid progrefs of Charles increafed the ge- fe neral terror % ^ P ‘ffing the Duna, in fpitc ol alt Ifft the Saxons, who were advantageoufl > polled on the ;?!: oppofite fide, he gained a compleat viftory over f(fi- them ; and then, without waiting a mO''ncnt, he \h made himlcU malter of Courland, advanced into h\ Lithuania, and by his prefence encouraged the Poliih p fa£li n that oppofed Auguilus. ig: Notwithstanding all this, Peter Hill pur* b fued bis defigns. General Patkul, who had en- g^ged in his fervice, procured him fome German iti oiBceis, ditciplined his troops, fupplied the place of yni genera] le Fort \ and finiUied what the other be- gan. The Czar ordered relays of horfes to be pro* vided for all the offic rs, and even for the Gertnan, j'ji Liv mian, and Poiilh foldiers, who cimc to lerve in hiS armies tic took particular care ot their •f arma, cloathing and fubn'tc.ice. On the confines ot i.^vonia and L onia, and to Uj the caUward ot the pr vince of Sovogoro I, lies the great lake Peipus, which receives from the loath jjjd fide Ol Livonia the water O’ the river Velika, and gives rile in its northern part to the river Naiova, that wafhes the walls of the town ^a«va, near w.jich the bweiicj got their faniuiu victory. t his lake ts upwards of thirty leagues m length, and Irom twelve to L 4 July. THE HISTORY i6o to fifteen in breadth. It was neceflarv to keep a fleet there, to prevent the Swedifh fliips from inrult- ing the province of Novogorod ; to be ready to make a defeent upon their coaits, and above all, to be a nurlery for feanien. Peter employed the greateft part of the year 1701 in building on this lake aa hundred half gallies, to carry about fifty men each ; and ether vefTels were fitted out on the lake Lado- ga. He dire£led the building of thefe vefTcIs him- felf and fet his new failors to work : thofe who had been employed in i6g7, at the Palus Mseotis, were then flationed near the Baltic. He frequently left ihofe affairs to go to Mofeow, and the other pro- vinces ; in order to efiabiifli the obfervance of the late cuftoms he had Begun, or to introduce ne\? ones. All princes who have employed the times of peace in founding and eftabiilhing public works, have perpetuated their memories; but that Peter, jufi after his defeat at Narva, fliould apply to the jundfjon of the Baltic, Cafpian and the buropean fcas by canals, has crowned hjm with more real glo* ly, than the moil fignal vidlory. It was in the year 170^, that he began* to dig that deep canal, inrend- ing to join the I'anais and the Wolga. Other com- munications were Jikewife to be made, by means of Jakes between the lanais and the Duna ; whofc waters empty themfclves into the Baltic, in the neighbourhood of Riga. But this latter prcjedl feenud to be Hill at a great dilUnce. for Pciei was far from having Riga in his pofi’cfTion. AVwile Charles was ravaging all Poland, Pc- t r OF RUSSIA. i6i ter brought from that kingdom, and from Saxony, a number of fliepherds with their flocks, in order to have wool fit lor making good cloth ; he likc- wife erc£led linen and papei manuid even in thole where they had the better, the RtflTians improved in the art ol war. In fliort, in jfil litiic more than. twelve nmnths after the battle of Narva, Peter’s tro ps were fo well diiciplincd, that > • they oeleatrd one of the belt generals belonging to Charles XII. J51 Peter was then at Plelkow, from whence he detached numercus troops on all Tides, to attack the , j bwcilcs; the RulTtana were viclorious, notwiihfland- in^ ting only c mmdndcd by a Ruflian general, a nauve of the countiy, and not a loreigner. iiis gcnc'ai cheremetow, by a Ikilrul mar. oeuvre, fur- ji pnied levcral troops oi the owedilh gcneial Slip- pembac. I62 THE HISTORY pembac *, on the frontiers of Livonia *, and at laft obtained a vidory over that officer himfelf .And now, for the firft time, the Ruffians took ^rom the Swedes four of their colours j which was thought a great number. The lakes of Peipus and Ladago were for fome time atierwards the theatres of naval engagements between the Ruffians and Swede^ ; in which the latter had the fame advantages as by land^ owing to their good difcipline ; yet the Ruffians had fome few fuccefles with their half gallies, in a general adfion at the lake Peipus, in which field marfhal Schtremetow took a Swedifh frigate f. It was bv means of this lake the Czar kept Li- vonia and ( ftonia in continual alarms; his gallies often f^ifimbaiked feveral regiments in thufe pro- vinces; wh(» re-imbaiked whenever they tailed of \ fuctels ; but when they had any advantage, they always improved it : the bwedes were defeated twice in the neighbourhood of Derpt t, while they were vidforious every w'hcre eJjc. In ail thefe engagements the Ruffian*? were al- wa>s iuperior in number: which made Charle^ XII. who was lo (ucceLiul in every other place, give himfcif lit le concern about the fmall fuccefs ot the Cz.., not confitltrng mat the numerous forces of his rival were every i>a) g. owing more formidable, as they impioved in their difeipiine, fo as one day to become a match lor himfelf While both nations Wftc thus engaged by fea • Jan. 1 1. 1 f May. j and July. apd OF RUSSIA. V I k \h- if'i i: t V ' H, i!t: tt: i 163 and land in Livonia, Ingria, and Eftonia, the Czar receives advice, that a 8wedi(h fleet had fet fail to deftroy Archangel ; upon which he immediately fled thither, and all were aflonifhed to hear of his being on the coafts of the Frozen Tea, when he was thought to be at Mofeow. He put the town into a pofture of defence, prevented the landing of the Swedes, drew the plan of a citadel, called the New Dwina, laid the firft ftone, returned to Mofeow, and from thence to the feat of war. Charles advanced into Poland ; but the Ruf- fians, on their fide, made a progrefs in Ingria and Livonia. Marflial Scheremetow marched to meet the Swedifh army commanded by Slippembac, fought a battle near the little river Embac, and de- feated him, taking fixteen colours, and twenty pie- ces of cannon. Norberg places this action on the firft of December 1701 ; but the journal of Pe- ter the Great fixes it on the nineteenth of July 170a. The Ruffian general then marched onwards f, hid the whole country under contribution, and takes the little town of Marienburgh, fituated on the confines of Ingria and Livonia. I’hcre are fe- vcral towns of this name in the north of EuTopc ; but this, though it no longer exifts, is more eele- braied in hiitory than all the others, by the adven- ture of the emprefs Cathcinc. This little town, having furrendered at difcrc- tion, the bwedcs, who defended it, either through ^ AugoR 6th, miftake 164' THE HISTORY miflake or defign, fet fire to the magazines. The Ruffians, enraged at this, dcftroyed the town, and carried away all the inhabitants. Among the pri- loners was a young woman, a native ot Livonia, who had been educated by Mr. Gluck, a Lutheran miniller of that place, an.d who afterwards became the fovereign of thofe who had taken her captivej and governed Ruflia by the name of the emprefs Catherine. There had been fevcral inflarces before this of private women being raiTed to the throne. Nothing was more common in Ruffia, and in all Afiatic kingdoms, than for kings to marry their own Tub- jc6fs ; but that a poor ftianger, who had been taken prifoner in the ruins of a.plundered city, ftiould be- xome the abfolute fovereign or that very enrpire, whither (lie was led captive, is an initance wnich fortune and merit never produced but this time in the annals of the world. The Czar^s arms were fuccefbful in Ingria ; for their half galleys on the lake Ladoga compelled the Swe. ifh fleet to retire to Wiburg, a town fituatc at the other extremity of this great lake, from whence they could fee the fiege of the lortrefs of Notebu- g, which was then ca: ried on by general Scheremetow. This was an affair ol much greater impocianee than was imagined at that time, as it might open a communication with the 13aitic Sea, the conllant aim ot Peter the Great. NoTEBURG was a llrong fortified town, built on an ifland in the lake i.adoga, which it entirely commands^ and by that means, whoever is mafter of OF RUSSIA. i6s of it, nuin: be mafters alfo of that part of the river Neva, which empties itfelf into the Baltic not far from thence. 1 he Ptuflians bombarded the town night and day, from the eighteenth of September to the twelfth of Ortober; and at length, having made three breaches, gave a general aflault. The Swedifh garrifon was reduced to an hundred men, only capable of defending the place ; and what is very adonifliing, they continued to defend it, and obtained an honourable capitulation even in the breaches. Colonel Slippembac, who commanded there, would not furrender the town, but on con- dition of being permitted to fend for two SwediOi officers from the nearefl poll, to examine the breaches, in order to be witnefTrs for him to the king his mailer, that eighty three foldicrs, who were all then iett of the garrifon capable nt bearing arms, befjdes one hundred and Buy fix fick and wound- ed, did not lurrender to a whole army, till it was impoffible for them to fight longer, or to preferve the town. This circumllancc alone thews, what fort of an enemy the Czar had to contend with, and the nectfricy there was of ail hii induftry to improve his troops in military difeipline. tie di- ftributed gold medals among the officers, and be- ftowed rewards on ail the private men ; except a few, whom he punilhed for running away, during the afiault. Their fellow foldiers fpit in their faces, and afterwards ffiot them to death, thus adding ig- nominy to puniffiment, Noteburc was repaired, and its name chang- ed to that of bhluflelburg, or the city of Key, be- caufe i66 THE HISTORY caufe that place is the key of Ingria and Finland. The firft governor was that MenzikoiF, whom we have already mentioned, and who was become a very good officer, and had fignalized himfelf, dur- ing the fiege, and therclore defervcd that honour. Ibis example fcrved as an encouragement to all who have merit, without being diftinguiffied by high birth. After this campaign of 1702, Peter was de- firous that Schcrcmetow, and the officers who had fignalized thcmfclves, ffiould make a triumphant entry into Mofcow. All the prifoners taken in this campaign marched in the retinue of the conquer- ors and before them were carried the Swedifh colours and rtandards, together with the flag of the Swedifh frigate taken on the lake Peipus. Peter affifted himfelf in the preparations for this triumphal entry, as he had (hared in the great aftions that were celebrated by it. Ihese folemnities were defigned to infpire e- mulaiion, othcrwiie they would have been no more than idle olientation Charles difdained all thefe public (hews, and, after the battle of Narva, held his encmie , their cffuris, and their triumphs, in equal contempt. • December 17,1 7#*. CHAP. MM OF RUSSIA. 1 6j u CHAP. XIII. IdiL f Reformation at Moscow. Founding of Peterjhurg. The Czar takes Narvay &c. The year J703. T H E fliort flay which the Czar made at Mof- cow, in the br^innin^ of the winter 1703, L was employed in feeing ail his new regulations cx- 1132 . ecuted, and in improving the civil as well as the asj| military government. Lven' his very diverfions were confccrated to make his fubj £ls rclifh the Ijii!) new manner of living he had introduced amongfl: them. It was with this view he invited all the [|]^ boyars and ladies of Mofeow to the marriage of or c of his buffoons, at which every one was required to appear drefled in the ancient fafhion. They ferved up the dinner jud in the fame manner as thofe in the fixtcenth century t. By an old fuperftitious cuftom, no one was to light fire on the wedding- day, even in the fevereft cold. I bus cuftom was ^ obferved vciy ftriclly upon this occafion. rhcRuf- j fians formerly never drank wine, but only mead ai.d if}' brandy, no other liquors were allowed on this day, t Taken from the journal of Peter the Great, and, i68 THE HISTORY and, when tlicy complained, he replied, in a jok- ing manner, “ This was a cuftom with your an- ceflors, and old cuftoms are always the beft.” I his pleafantry contributed much to reform thofc who preferied paQ tin.es to the prefent, or at lealt it put a ftop to their murmurings ; and there are fs- Veral nations that (land in need of the fame ex- ample. An enablifliment more ufeful than any of the reft, was that ot a printing-houfe for Ruffian and Latin types, the materials of which were broui^ht from Holland. 'Fhcy began with printing tranfla- tions in the RufTian language of feveral books of morality and polite literature. Fcrgulon eftabliffi- cd fchools for geometry, aftronomy, and naviga- tion. Another foundation, no lefs neceflary and uferul, was that of a large hofpital ; not one of thofe houfes which encouraged idlcnefs, and perpetuated the mifery of the people, but fuch as the Czar had ften at Amfterdam, where old perfons and chil- dren are employed at work, and where every per- fon is ferviceable to the public. He cftablilhed many manu^a£lures ; and as foon as he fet a-going all thofe new arts which he had brought into Mofeow, he haftened to Veronitz, to give diredhions for building two fhips of eighty guns, with long cheltr cxaddly clofcd to the ribs of the veffel, for the eaficr floating of the ftnp over the ftioais and bank^ of fan < that lay about Aioph. A contrivance lik that ufed in Holland, to get their large fliips over the Pampas. Having OF RUSSIA. i/Jp i II r»f* Having prepared every thing for an expedition againft the Turks, he immcdiatel/ took his route for the frontiers of Sweden. He alfo went to vi* fit the (hips that he gave orders to be built at O- lonitz *, a town between the lakes of Ladoga and Onega, where he had eftablifhed a foundery for making all kinds of arms •, and where every thing had all the look of preparations for war j whilft at Mofeow llouriflicd all the arts of peace. A fpring of mineral waters, which has been lately difeover- ed near Olonitz, has added to the reputation of that place. Fiom thence he proceeded to ShlufTelburg, to improve the fortifications. We have already obferved, that Peter was deter- mined to pafs regularly through all the military de- grees •. he had ferved as lieutenant of bombardiers under prince MenzikofF, before that favourite was made governor of bhlufielburg, and now he took the rank of captain, and ferved under mailhal bche- remetow. There was an important fortrefs near the lake Ladoga, and not far from the river Neva, named Nyaniz or Nya. It was of the utmofi importance to make himfelf mafier of this p’ace, in order to fe- cure his conquefts, and favour his other defigns* As he was obliged to befiege the place both by fed and land, he fent therefore a number of fmall (hips full ol foldiers, to hinder the Swedes from lending any fuccours that way +. 1 he citadel furrendcred, and two bwedilh vefl'cls arrived too late to a did the ' March 3O4 1703, t May I 703* befieged, r 170 THE HISTORY i befiegetl, being both atraclced and taken by the C2ar. His journal ob crvcs, that as a reward for his fervice, “ I'he captain of the bombar- diers was created knight of the onler of St. Andrew by admiral Golowin, the fird knight of that order/' After the taking the fort of Nya, became to a rdbl ition of building the city of Feterfburg, at the mouth of the Neva, upon the gulph of Finland. The affairs of king Auguflus were in a defpc* rate way. Fbc extraordina y viftories of the Swedes in Poland had encouraged his enemies in the oppofition, and even his friends had obliged him to difmifs a body of twenty thoufand Ruffians that the Czar had fent him to reinforce his army. They thought by this facrifice to deprive the male- contents ot all pretext for joining the king of Swe- den : but enemies are difarmed by force, an ap- pearance of weaknefs only makii^ them more in* folcnt. The twenty ihoutand men that had been dil'ciplined by Faikul were of infinite Icrvicc in Li- vonia and Ingria, while Auguflus was lofing his dominions This rein orcement, and above all, the poffcflion of Nya, enabled the Czar to found his n;:w capital I T was in this barren and marfliy fpot of ground, which communicates W'ith the main land only by one way, that Peter laid the foundation of Pe* terfburg, in the Cxticth degree of latitude, and the forryfourth and a half of longitude. The ruins of fomc of the baflions of Nyantz were made ufe : r .1 1 OF RUSSIA. 171 ufe of for the firft Clones of the foundation :f. They began by biiiKding a finall fort upon one of the if- lands, which is now in the center o( the city. The Swedes beheld, without apprehcnfion, a fcttlcment on the midft of a morafs, and inacceflible to veflels of burden ; but in a very (lioit time they faw the fortifications advanced, a town raifed, and the little ifland of Cronftadt, fituate over againfl it, changed in i;04 into an impregnable fortrefs, under the cannon of which even the largcft fleets may ride at anchor in fafety. Such works as thefe, which feemed to require a time of the moft profound peace, were carried on in the very middle of a war. Workmen of every fort were called together from Molcow, Aitracan, Cafan, and the Ukraine, to aflid in building the new city. Neither the difTicnlties of the grpund, that was to be drained and raifed, nor the diftance of materials, the unforefeen obflacles which are for ever darting up in all great under- takings ; nor, laftly, the mortality which carried off a prodigious number of workmen, could make the Koyal Founder dcfill from this undertaking ; but, in the fpace of five month^, a new city arofe from the ground. It is true, indeed, it was little better than a cluflvT of huts, with only two brick houfes lurrounded by ramparts ; but this was all that was then needful. lime and perfcverance accomplilhed the reft. In lefs than five months alter the founding of Peterfburg, a Dutch Ihip f Peterfburg was founded on Whitfunday, May zj, 1703. VoL. I. 1 came 172 the history catne to trade there, the captain of which was a- htindantlv rewarded t, and the Dutch foon found the wav to Peterfburg. „ , , „ •While Peter was direding the edablidiment ,hi. colony, he took care to render it inacceffible ,0 the enemy, hy making hin.felf mailer of the neighhouiing pods. A Swediih colonel, named Cr< niort, had taken port on the river Seilra, and thence threatened the growing city. Peter, with- out delay, marched againft him with his two regi- ments of guards defeated him, and obliged him to rcpsfs the river. When he had thus provided for the feemity of the town, he went to Olonitz, ,0 give dirtaions, for building a number of fmall veffels, and then returned to Peterfburg on board a frigate that had been built by his direc- tion, taking with him fx tranfport veff ts lor pre- fect ufe, till the others could be finifhed. Even at this junaure he fent fuccouis to the king of Poland t) twelve tboufand foot, and a fubfi- dv in money of three hundred thoufand rubles, which make about one million five hundred thou- fand French livres. . It has been remarked, that bis annual revenue did not exceed then five mil- lions of rubles ; by far too fmall a fum for the ex- pence of bis fleets, of his armies, and of his new efiablifhments. He had fortified Novogorod, Ple- fkow, Kiow, Smolcnfko, Afoph, Archangel, and founded a capital. Tet he was Hill able ro aflia his ally with men and money. Cornelius le Bruin, K» S i«'y ». f Nov. a Dutchman, OF RUSSIA. *73 i tiA a Dutchman, who was on his traTcIs, and at that time in Rudia, and with whom he frequently con^ verfed very freely, as indeed he did with all Itran- gets, fays, that the Cxar himfelf aflured him, that he had ftill three hundred ihoufand rubles remain- ing m his coffers, after all the expcnces of the war were defrayed In order to fecurc his infant city of Peterfburg againd any infult, he went in perfon to found the depth of water thereabouts, fixed upon a place for building the fort of Crondadt; and, after making the model of it in wood with his own hands, he employed prince Menzikoff to carry it into execu- tion. From thence he fet out to pafs the winter at Mofeow, in order to eliablifh, by degrees, the fcveral alterations he had made in the laws, man- ners and cuftoms of RuQia ♦. He regulated the fi- nances, and put them upon a refpeftable footing. He haftened the works that were carrying on in the Veronitz, and Afoph, and in an harbour which he had caufed to be made on the Palus Mseotis, under the fort Taganrok. The Porte + was alarmed at tbefe prepara- tions, and fent an embafl'y to the Czar to com- plain thereof: to which he returned for an- fwer, that he was as much king in his own dominions as the Grand bignior was in Purky, and that it was no infringement of the peace, to render the Ruffian power rcfpecfablc on the £u- xine fea. ’ Nov f.1703* t Jan. ir©4. I 2 Upon 174 the history ITpcn liis return to Peteilburg ;J:, finding l)!s new citadel of Cronfladt, which had been found- ed in the bofom of the fea, quite finiHied, he furniihed it with compleat artillery. But in order to fettle himfclf firmly in Ingria, and entirely to deface the difgrace he had fuffered before Narva, he thought it neerflary to take that city. While he was making preparations for the fiege, a fmall fit et appeared on the lake Peipus, to oppofe his de- figns. The Ruffian half galleys came out to attack them, and took the whole iquadron. which had on board ninety eight pieces of cannon. After this viaorv, the Czar lays fiege to Narva both by fea and land, and which was moft furprifing, he lays fiege to the city of Derpt in £ftonia at the fame time. §. Who would have imagined, that there was an univerlity in Derpt? Guflavus Adolphus had found- ed one there, but it did not make that city famous, Derpt being only known by thefe two fieges. Pe- ter was continually going from one to the other, forwarding the attacks, and dirr^ing all the dif- ferent operations. The Swedifh general :)lippem- bac was in the neighbourhood of Derpt, with a bo- dy of two thoufand five hundred men. • The befiegers expeded every inftant when he would throw the fuccours into the place ; but Pe- ter, on this occafion, had recourfe to a ftraiagem, worthy ot frequent imitation. He ordered two re- giments of foot, and one of horfe, to be clothed in \ March 3 a. § April. the the fame uniform, and to carry the fame ftandards and colours as the Swedes. Thefe fiiam Swedes attack the trenches, and the Ruflians pretend to be put to (light j the garrifon deceived by appearances, make a (ally upon which the mock combatants join their forces, and fall upon the Swedes, one half of whom were left dead upon the fpot, and the. reft made a (hift to get back to the town. Slip- pembac arrives foon after with fuccours to relieve it, but is intirely routed. At length Derpt was obliged to capitulate, juft as the Czar was prepar- ing every thing for a general allaultf. At the fame time, Peter met with a confiderable check on the fide of his new city of Peterfburg; but this did not prevent him either from going on with the new building of that place, or from vigor- oufly profecuting the fiege of Narva. It has alrea- dy been noiiccd, that he fent a reinforcement of troops and money to king Auguftus, when his ene- mies were taking the throne from him; but thofe aids proved of no fcrvice. The Ruffims having joined the Lithuanians who adhered to Auguftus> were totally routed in Com land by theSwedifli ge- neral Lewenhaupc § : and had the conquerors di- rected their efforts towards Livonia, Lftonia, and Ingria, they might have ruined the Czar’s new works, and deftroyed all the fruits of his great en- terprizes. Peter was every day undermining the out wall of Sweden, while Chailcs did not oppofe June a 7, 1704, t July » 3 * I 3 5 July 31, hltn i?6 THE HISTORY him enough, for he fought a glory lefs ufeful, though more brilliant. A Swedish colonel on the twelfth of July lyo/j, at the head of a detachment, made the Po- liih nobility ele£t a new king, on the field of e» ledUon, called Kolo, near Warfaw. The cardinal, primate of the kingdom, and feveral bifliops, fub- mittcd ihcmfelves to a Lutheran prince, notwith- ftanding the threatenings and excommunications of the Pope. In fliort, every thing yielded to force. No body is ignorant in what manner Stanillaus Ler- zinflty was eledled king, and how Charles XII. o* bliged the gieatell part of Poland to acknowledge him. Peter abandoned not the dethroned king, he redoubled his fuccours in proportion to the lodes of his ally*, and while his enemy made kings, he conquered the Swedilh generals one after another in tflonia and Ingria ; he then went to the fiegc of i\arva, and attacked it valiantly. There were three ballions, famous at lead for their names, cal* led Victory, Honour, and Glory. The Czar car- ried them all three fword-in-hand. The befiegers entered into the city, which they plundered, and cxercifed all thofe cruelties, which were but too cuilomary at that time, between the Swedes and RulTians. Peter, on this occaCon *, fet an example which ought to have gained him the hearts of his new fubjedls. He ran every where in per* • Auguft lo, 17C4. fon, »77 1 tltl; ^I*i« H'j ill 1 aiK p,b IWK nxij lokj lialfj- ilti, fcli' Ik S' iw k4 ititii Cii-ii. •Irtrl’; (It^ «s». afi K t ■ fc. OF RUSSIA. fon, to flop Ihe pillage and murder, fnatches fe* veral women out of the hands of the brutal fol- diers, and, after having, with his own hand, flain two of thofc barbarians, who did not obey his ci- ders, he enters the town houfe, whither the citi- zens had ran in crouds for (hcitcr, an till ilfc a bwedi'h colonel had been tirll fent for to inrj)e£l \m the condition of the place, who gave them a ccr- Ttnii tificate that this outrage had been committed by Ilk? the Swedes «i A RUMOUR which was fpread throughout the whole empirv , that the Czar had been totally eiDiV dcicaitd at the battle of Gemavers, proved of p : lols of that battle I'he remainder of the an- alK cient Strelitze in gairiion at Allracan, embold- ciicd by this fall'c report, mutinied, and murdcr- ed the governor of the town. Peter was obliged [ to lend matihal i'^chereinctow with a body of \ ^ wards laid (iege to the capital, which was taken by capitulation. “^‘*4 for diitingurlhing their fucccflcs f by rapine and i 6 forces i 82 the history forces to quell the infurredUon, and punifh the ringleaders. The Czar at this time feemcd in a critical fitu- ation. The fucccfs and valour of Charles XII ; the misfortunes of Auguflus the forced neutra- lity of Denmark; the infurreftion of the anci- ent Strelitzes; the murmurs of a people, fenfible of the reftiaint, but not of the utility of the late reformation; the difeontent of the grandees, who found themfelves fubjefted to military difeipline; and laftly, the exhaufted date of the revenue, Avere fufl'icient to have difpirited any prince but Peter ; yet he did not defpond even for an in- flant. He foon quelled the revolt, and having provided for the fafety of Ingria, and fccurt d the pollefTion of the citadel of Mittau, in fpite of the viftorious Lewenhaupt, who had not troops em>ugb tooppofehim; he found himfelf at li« beity to march an army through Saniogitia and Lithuania. Peter now partook of the fame glory with Charles Xll and gave laws to Poland. He ad- vanced as far as I ikoezm ; where he had an inter- view for the fecond time with king Auguftus ; and he confolcd with him in his misfortunes, promif- ing to avenge his caufe, and at the fame time mat e him a prelcnt of fome colours, which Men- zikoti had taken from the troops of his rival. They afterwards went towards Grodno, the ca- pital of Lithuania, and ftaid there till the fit* tcenth of December At their parting, Peter gave him both men and money, and, according to O F R U S S I A. 183 to his uUial cuftom, went to pafs fome time of the winter at Mofcow f, to make the arts and laws flourifli there, after having made a very diffi- cult campaign. CHAP. XV. While Peter is Jlrengthening his conquefts, and, improving hts dominions^ his enemy Charles XII. gains leveral battles . gives lavss to Poland and Saxony. tugufius. notvnthjianding a viaory gained by the Ruffians, receives la-ws from Charles Xll. iu^ujlus renounces the crown, and delivers up Patkul the Czar's amhaffador. Murder ot Patkul, who is condemned to be broke upon the wheel The year 1 706. P ETER was hardly come back to Moscow, when he was infotmeu that oharles Xli> alter bciikg every where viCtoiious, was advancing to* wards Grodno, to ai.atk the Ruffian troops. King Vugullus hati been obliged to fly Iroin Grodno, anri retire in haltc towards baxony, with tour legiments 01 Ruffian drai;Oons . a flip which both weakened and oilc uraged the a> niy of his protector, t he Czar lounu all the roads t Dec. 50. I7»S» to i84 THE H r S T a R Y to Grodno occupied by the Swedes, and hig troops di perfed. While he wa- aflemblinpf his troops in Lithua- nia, V jth great d fii- ulry, the famous tSchulemburg, who was the laft refourcc of Auguftus, and who afterwards acquired fo much glory by the defence of Corfu againh the Turks, advanced on the fide of Great Poland, with about twelve thoufand Sa- xons, and Gx thouiand Ruflians, taken from the troops which the Czar had trufled with this unfor» tunate prince. Schulemburg expected,, with fome reafon, that he would be able to fave Auguitus from being ruined : he faw that Charles XU. was fully employed in Lithuania, and that there were only a body of ten thoufand Swedes under general Renfchild who would interrupt his march He thereupon advanced with conGdcncc to the fron- tiers of bilefia ; which is the p-jflage from Saxony into Upper Poland. When he was near the vil- lage of Fraulladt, on the frontiers of t rat kingdom, he met marlhal Renfchild, who wab coming to give him battle. Notwithstanding the care I t<.kc to avoid repeating what has been already meiitioned in the hiflory of Charles Xll. I .an) obliged in this place to lake notice once more, that there was in the Saxon army a French regiment, that had been ta- ken priloners at the famous battle of Hochdet, and obliged to ferve in the Saxon troops. My memoirs inform me, that this regiment had the charge of the arrillcry. and add, that the Fiench, being ad- nurcfs of the fame and reputation of Charles XII. and and difconteiucd with the ^axon fcrvicc, laid dov^n iheii arms as foon as they came in fi;j;ht of the enemy ■}■> and delired to be takm into the Swedifh army, in which they continued to the end of the war. I his dt^eition was a fi^nal of a total overthrow to the Ruffian army, of which no more than three battalions were faved, and alnjoft every man of theie were wounded; and as no quarter was granted, the remainder were all killed Norberg ^hc chaplain pretends, that theSwe- di(h woid at this battle was, “In the name of God,” and that of the Ruffians, “Kill alii” but it was the Swedes who killed all in the name of God The Czar himfclf declares in one of his manifeftoes that a number of Ruffian Coffacks and Calmucks, that had been made prifoners, were murdered in cool blood three days after the battle I he irregular troops on both fides had ac« cullomcd their generals to thefe cruelties,, than which greater were never commuted in the mod barbarous times. I hau the honour to hear king Stai.tflaus himfelf fay, that in one of thofe cn- ga>jenients» which were io frequent in Poland, a Ruffian office*, who had formerly been one of his tiiends, came to put himfclf under his pro* • teaion, after the defeat of the corps which he com- m«iidedi and that the Swtdiffi general Stcinbok (hot him dead with a pillol, while he held him in his arm t Feb, S. 1 7 f \ ThcCiar’s mauferto in the Ukraine* The i36 THE history The RuTuns had now loft four pitched battles ^ with the Swedep, without reckoning the other vie- id tories of Charles XII. in Poland. The Czar’s troops i that were in Grodno were in danger of greater ' 1 «* difgrace, by being furrounded on all Gdes; but he fortunately found means to get them togethrr, and ‘j* even to ft engthen them with new reintorcemmts. Being obliged to pro* ide for the fafety of his army, ' f | and the fecurity of his conquefts in Ingria, he or- dered prince MenzikofF to march with the army un- |» dcr his command tallward and from thence fouth- -'f; ward as far as Kiow |j 5 '' HiLE his men were upon their march, he |i- repairs to fthluflclburg. from thence to \arva. and to his colony o- Pr terfburg $, and puts thole places 1f.i in a p' fture of defence From the Baltic he fli.-s If* to the banks O’ the Boiiilhenes, to march into Po- land by the way oi Kiow, making it ftill his con- H ftant endeavour to render thole vidr.ries of Charl-s, = which he had not been able to prevent, of as lit- I tie advantage to the vidtor as pt.flible. At this ' jli very time he meditated a new coi quell; namely, .1 that of Wiburg, the capital of Carclia, lituated }■ M on the gulph of Finland. He went to befiege ‘ k this place, bur it withftood the power of his arms*; . 1 (! fuccours arrived in feaf. n. an.i he was obliged to !e raife the fiege. His rival Charles Xli. did not i |k really -make any conqueft-, though he gained fo i lu many battles: he puriucu king Augnftus into .Sjx- ^ ony, being always more intent upon crulhing mat il • 0(f^, 1 7 c8 caufe. 1e had fome tune bciorc order- cd Patkul to be arrtited, contrary to the law of § Sep. I4< I 70^# nations, i88 THE HISTORY nations^ upon falfc fufpicions; and now, in dlreft violation of ihefc laws, he delivered him up to his enemy. It had been more to his credit to have died iword-in hand, than to have concluded fuch a treaty; a treaty which not only robbed him of his crown, and of his charafter ^ but likewife en- dangered his liberty, becaufe he was at that time in the power of prince MenzikofF in Pofnama, and the few Saxons that were with him were paid by the RuflTians. Prince MenzikofF was oppofed in that diftrift by aSwedifh army, reinforced with a ftrong party of Poles, in the intereft of the new king Staniflaus, under the command of general Maderfeld ^ and not knowing that Auguilus had engaged in a treaty with the enemies of HufTi , had piopofcd to attack them V and Auguftus did not dare to refufe. The battle was fought near Kahfli, in the palatinate be« longing to Staniilaus f i'his was the firft pitched battle tho Ruffians had gained againfl the ^>wcdes* Prince Menzikoff had ail the glory of the adion; four thoufand of the enemy were left dead on the field, and two thoufand five hundred and ninety- tight were taken prifoners. It is difficult to think how Auguftus could be prevailed on, after this battle, to ratify a treaty which deprived him of all fhe benefit of his vidorv. but Charles was triumphant in Saxony, where bis very name intimidaicd his enemies. The fuccefs oi the Ruffians appeared fo inconfiderablc, and the Polifli f. OcU m m I it "" i: it 'to P party OF RUSSIA. IF’ I'ii iij ’! >V| m M I8i ;ofi ki«. idi 1*^ V‘‘ it if- .c* 189 party againft Auguftus was fo ill-advifed, that he figncd that fatal convention. Neither did he ftop here: he wrote to his envoy FinkUein a letter, that was ifpolTible more Ihameful than the treaty itfelf; for therein he aiked pardon for having obtained a viftory, protcUing, that the battle had been fought againft his will ; that the Huflians, and the Poles his adherents, had obliged him to it; that he had, with a view of preventing it, adlually made fome movements to abandon MenzikolT , that Maderfeld might have beaten him, had he made the molt of that opportunity ; that he wa‘^ ready to reltore all the bwcdifh prifoners, or to break with the Kuili* ans ; and that, in hne, he would give the king of Sweden all manner of fatisfadion,*' for having dar- ed to bear his troops. This whole affair is dri£Uytrue, however ftrangc and fui prizing it may appear. When we reflect, that, with ail this weaknefs, Augullus was one of the braved princes in 1 urope; we may plainly per- ceive, that the lofs or prefervation, the rile or de- cline of empires, are entirely owing to a becoming firmnefs of mind Iheke were two other circumftances concur- red to compleat the misfortunes of the king of Po- land cle£tor of Saxony, and fhew the abulc which Charles XII. made of his good fortune. The firft was his obliging Augullus to write a letter of congratulation to the new king btanillaus : the Iccond was terrible ; he even compelled Auguftus to deliver up Patkul, the Czir’s ambaflador and general. It is fufiiacntly known to ail Europe, the THE HISTORY 190 that this minifter was afterwards broke upon the wheel at Cafimir, in the month of September 17C7. Norberg the chaplain confefles that the orders for his execution were all written in Charles's own hand. i HERE is not a civilian in all Europe, nay even the vilefl flave, but muft feel the whole horror of this barbarous injufticc. The firft crime of this un- fortunate man was, his having made an humble re- prefcntaiion of the rights and privileges of his coun- try, at the head of fix Livonian gentlemen, who were fent as deputies from the whole pi ovince : he was condemned to die for fulfilling the firil of du* ties, that of ferving his country agreeable to her laws. This iniquitous fentence put him in full poifedion of a right, which all mankind derive from H nature, that of chufing his country. As he was L ambafiador to one of the greateif monarchs in the univerfe, his perfon ought to have been facred On this occafion, the law of nature and nai ions was vi- olated by the laws of force. The fplendo'’ of glory ' formerly covered fuch barbarities, but at prefent they put a lading (lain and reptoach 00 military glory. I® L CHAP. 1 OF RUSSIA. 191 I' ( pcE:; Xtl! ■ CHAP. XVI. biij l;ki| nU Bf[,PV liiat jils| kkr ioiij [liiij cr«'' 'III* A deftgn to fet up a third king in Poland Charles XU. fets out from Saxony 'with a flour ijhing ar- myy and paffes through Poland like a conqueror. Cruelties exercifed. Conduct of the Czar. Suc^ ceffes of Charles XII. who at length advances to* wards Ruffia. The year 1707 and 1708. C HARLFS XII. enjoyed at Altranftadt, near Leipfic, the fruits of his viftorics; the pro- telhnt princes of the German empire flocking in croudb to pay homage to him, and beg his protec- tion. He received ambaffadors from almoltallthe potentates of Europe. The emperor Jofeph im- plicitly followed his diicftions. Peter then feeing that king Auguftus had renounced his p otedion, and the Polifli crown, and that a part of the nation had acknowledged Staniflaus, lillcned to the pro- pofals made him by Yolkova, of elciSting a third king. Several palatines were propofed at the diet of Lublin, and prince Ragotfki, who was long kept in prifon in his youth by the empeior Leopold, and W'as his corrpctitor tor the throne of Hungaiy, was put on the lift. This negotiation was carried very far, and Po- land 1 02 THE HISTORY Jand was on the point of having three kings at one time. Prince Ragotfki not fucceeding, Peter thought to beftow the crown on Siniaufki, grand general of the republic \ a man of great power and intcreft, and head of a third party, that would neither ac- knowledge the dethroned king, nor the perfon c* lefted bv the other fadlion. Amongst all thofe troubles, there was a ru- mour ol peace. BefTcval the French envoy to the court of Saxony interpofed, to bring about a re- conciliation between Peter and the king of Swe- den. 1 he court of France were of opinion, that Charles, having no longer either the Ruffians or Poles to fight againfl, might turn his arms againft the emperor jofeph, who had difobligcd him, and on whom he had even impofed fevcral hard terms during his (lay in Saxony, But Charles made an- fwer, that he would treat with the Czar in the city of Mofeow. It was on this occalion that Peter faid, “ brother Charles wants to ^£^ the Alex- ander, but he (hall rot find a Darius in me ” 1 HE Ruffians however flili continued in Poland, and were in the city of Warfaw, while the king whom Charles XII. had fet over the Poles was fcarcely acknowledged by that nation. In the mean time, Charles enriching his army with the fpoils of S. xony. At length he began his march from Altran- ftadt with an army of forty five thoufand men ; a foice which it feemed impoffible for the Czar to make TC ta i .r * *• 1 t Aug. xt, 1707. H 'atr4' rr; ifci; ik! 'cls?5 make bead apjamft, feeing he had been entirely de- feated by eight thoufand Swedes at Narva. It was in pafling by the walls of Drefden that Charles made ti at very extraordinary vifit to king Auguftus, which, as Norberg fays, “ will ftrike poflerity with admiration.*’ It was running a furprifing rifle, to put himfclf in the power of a prince whom he had deprived of his kingdom. From this place he continued his march through Silefia, and re-entered Poland. This kingdom had been quite ravaged by war, ruined by faftions, and over-run with all forts of miferies. Charles continued advancing with his army through the province of Maffbvia, and took the worit ways it was pcflible for any pcifon to chufe. The inhabitants had taken flicker in the moraffes, and were rcfolved to make him pay dear for his paflage f)ix thoufand peafants difpatched an old man of their body to fpeak to him ; this man, w'ho was of a very extraordinary fize and fi- ‘ gure, clad in white, and armed with two carabines^ addrefled Charles ; but as thofe who were in com- pany with Charles did not very well underftand what he faid, they immediately killed him in the midft of his difeourfe, before the king’s face. The peafants, highly provoked, immediately took up arms. The Swedes purfued them, and all they took they obliged to hang one another ; the laft was compelled to put the rope about his ov/n neck himielf, and to be his own executioner. All their houfes § Aug. S7» 104 THE HISTORY bnufe«5 wrre hurnr to the p:round. ! his fafi is fully attrifted hv Norberg, who was an eve witncfs, anii therefore cannot be contradicled, which muft fhock every one with horror who reads it. Charles beinjj arrived within a few leagues of Grodno in Idrbuania received intelligence of the Czar’s being there in perfon with a body of troops; upon which, without any deliberation, he takes only eight hundred ot his guards, and fets out for Grodno. A German t»fiiccr, named Multels, who commanded a body of tioops, polled at one of the gates of the town, Tuppofing when he faw Charles, that he was followed by his whole army, inflead of difputing the paffage with him, leaves the gate open, and runs away. The alarm being now fpread through the whole town, every perfon thought the whole Swedifh army already entered ; the few Ruffians who made rcfiftance were killed by the Swedifh guards ; and ail the officers inform the Czar, that the victorious army were become mailers of the place. Upon this Peter retreats behind the ramparts, and Charles plants a guard of thirty men at the gate through which the Czar had juft before entered. In this confufion, fome of the fathers belonging to the Jefuits college where Charles lodged, w ent in the night, and informed the Czar of the whole truth. Upon which, Peter returns into the town, and forces the Swedilh guanls. An engagement ciifued ill the ftreets, but the whole bweoiln army appearing I Feb. 6 . I7®8. OF RUSSIA. appearing In fighr, thf! Czar is obliged to yield to fupcrioi numbers, and leaves rbe town in the hands of the vi£lor, who filled all Poland witli conftcrna- tion. Charles had augmented his forces in Livonia and Finland, and Peter had good reafon to be a- fraid, not only for his conquers on this fide, but alfo tor thofe on the fide of Lithuania, alfo for his ancient territories, and even the city of Mofeow itfelf. It was therefore necefTary for him to pro- vide for the fecurity of all thefe places, which lay at fach a diflance from one another. Charles could not make any rapid conquefts to the cafiward of Lithuania in the depth of winter, and in a marfliy country, fubjtft to epidemical diforders, which had increafed by poverty and famine from Warfaw as far as Minfki. Peter polled his troops tocommand all the pafies of the rivers, guarded all the import- ant polls, and did every thing in his power to hin- der the marches of his enemy f, and afterwards hadened to put all things in a proper ftate of de-_ fence at Peterfbutg. 1 HOUGH Charles was viclorioiis in Poland, he look nothing from the Czar ; but Peter, by em- ploying his new fleet, in landing his forces in Fin- land, by the taking and difmanlling the town of fiorgau, and by taking a confiderable booty 4*, pro- cured many real advantages to himfelf, and greatly diftrtfTcd his enemy. Continual rains kept Charles a long time in t April 8. 1 708. VoL. I. I May ii. K Lithuania, ig6 THE HISTORY Lithuania, but he at length reached the little river of, Berezinc, a few leagues from the Boriftbenes. Nothing could withftand his vidorious arm ; he immediately threw a biidge over the river in fight cf the Rufluns ; beat the detachment that guarded the pafTage, and got to Holczin on the Wabis, xvhere the Czar had pofied a confiderable body of men to check the impetuous progrefs of the Swedes, The little river of Bibilfch is only a brook in dry weather *, but at this lime it was fwelled by the lains to a deep and rapid flrcam. On the other tide was a morafs, behind which the Ruffians had thrown up an intrenchment for above a quarter of a league, defended by a large and deep ditch, and covered by a parapet lined with artillery. Nine regiments cf horfe, and eleven of foot, were ad- v.i-ntageoufly pofted in thefc Jines, fo that the paf- fagc.of the river feemed very dangerous, if not im- praciicable. 1 HE Swedes, according to the cuflom of war, got ready their pontons, and ercfled batteries to favour their pafTage ; but Charles, whofe impatience to engage would not let him brook the lead delay, did not wait till the pontons were ready. Marflial Schwerin, who feived a long time under him, has ;={rurcd me feveral times, that one day as they were about to engage, obferving his generals to be very kuiy in concerting the neccflary diTpofitions, faid tartly to them, “ When will you be done with tii- fiing and immediately advanced in perfon at the head of his guards, which he did particularly cn this memorable day. Hh £ r 'i: I 1 \ ft Q % a a OF RUSSIA. *97 * m n;k " Dif! fc! SftCi; iU .hi riCii ' m ’ i!d,s f. k wc:jt , (l« ‘ feu fel»^ jb:^- |(I!!i,J' fSa, }b 4 He threw himfclfinto the river, followed by hi^ regiment of guards. Their numbers broke the im- pctuofity of the dream, but the water was as higit as their fliouldcrs, and they could make no ufe of their firelocks. Had the artillery of the parapet been but tolerably well ferved, or had the infantry but levelled their pieces in a proper mariner,, not a fiiigle Swede would have efcaped. The king, after wading the river pafl'cd the morafs on foot. As foon as the army had fur- mounted ihefcobnacles within fight of the Uuflians, they drew up in order of battle, and attacked the Ruffian entrenchments feven times, and it was not till the feventh attack that the Ruffians gave way. By the accounts of Swediih hiltorians, they took but twelve field pieces, and twenty four mortars. It was therefore now plain, that the Czar had at lad fucceeded in difciplining his troops, and this viftory of Holozin, though it added to Charles's glory, might have made him fenfible of the many dangers he mud expeft to meet with in adventu- ring into fuch didant countries, where his army could only advance in fmall bodies, through woods, raorafles, and where he would be obliged to fight every dep of his way ; but the Swedes, being ac- cuttomed to vidory, neither were afraid of danger nor fatigue. ^ July IS. 1708, K 2 CHAP. ujS THE HISTORY C II A P. XVII. Charles XII creffes the BcriJtheneSy fenctrafes /V to the Ukraine^ hvt does net ccncert his tncafnres properly One oj his armies is defeated by Pc^ ter the Great : he Icjes his Ivpply of ptovifions and ammunition ; advances forward through a defer t country. His adventures on the Ukraine. The year 1708. ( CHARLES had now arrived on the banks of the Boriftherief, at a fmall town called Mo- hilow. 'Ihis was the important place where he W’as determined whether he rnVuld cliiccl bis march > eaftward towards Mofeow, or louthward towards the Ukraine His army, his friends, his enemies, all expedfed that he would direft his coiirfc imme* diatcly for the enpUa! of Ruflia. Whatever way he took, Peter was following him from .Smolenlko with a numerous army. No one expected that he would march towards the Ukraine tde was induced to take this f'range refolution bv IVIazeppa, hetman of tlie Cofliicks, an old man of fevent), and wdihout children, who ought to have tiiought only of ending hib days in peace and qu;et ; a fenle of gratitude fhould have tied him to the Czar, to wd*om he was indebted foi his prefenr greatnefs j t ut whether he had any real caufc ot compLunc agaiaft that prince, or OF RUSSIA. 199 or that he was overcome with thclu^lreof CIikIcj’s exploits, or whether, in time, he thought to make himfelf independent, he betrayed his benefactor, and entered into a confpiracy with the king of Sweden, flattering himfelf with the hopes of the whole nation of CoflTacks joining him in rebellion. Charles made not the lead doubt of fubduing the Kuflian empire, as foon as his troops Ihould be joined by fo warlike a people as the Cuflacks. Ma- zeppa was to furnifti him with what provifions, ammunition, and artillery he flood in need of. I3e* fides ihcfe powerful fuccours, he was to be joined by an army of fixteen or feventeen ihoufand men out of Livonia, under the command of general Lc- wenhaupht, who was to bring with him a piodi- gious quantity of warlike floras and proviijons. Charles did not allow himfelf to think whether the Czar was within reach of attacking his army, and robbing him of thefe neceflary fupplics. He never informed hiarfclf whether Mazeppa was in a con-* dition to obferve his promifes ; if he had credit c* nough to gain over a whole nation, who are gene- rally ruled only by their own opinion •, or whether his army was provided with fufiicient refources iit cafe of an accident ; but imagined, it Mazeppa (hould prove deficient in abilities or fidelity, he might depend entirely upon the bravery of his troops and good fortune. His army then advanced beyond the Boriftliencs towards the Dcina : it was bet-veen ihefc two rivers that he expeded to meet with Mazeppa. Many difficulties, as bad roads, K i ICO THE HISTORY and (klrmlfliing parties of the Ruflians, made his march very difagrecabie. Men z icoFF, at the head of fomc horfe and foot attacked the king’s advanced guard, threw them in- to diforder, and killed a number of his men. He loft a greater number of his own, but that did not difeourage him. Charles immediately haftened to the field of battle, and with fome difficulty repub fed the Ruffians, at the hazard of his own life, by engaging a party of dragoons, by whom he was fur- rounded. All this while Mazeppa did not arrive, and provifions began to grow fcarce. The Swedifli foldiers were not difpirited, feeing their king fiiare with them in all their danger?, fatigues, and wants ; but though they admired his courage, they could not refrain from being difpleafed with his con- duct. The orders which the king had fent to Lewen- haupt to march with all hafte, to join him with the necefTary fupplies, w'cre retarded twelve days in their journey. This was a great lofs as circum- flanccs then flood. However, Lewenhaupt at lad began his march Peter allowed him to pals the 13oiiflhenes *, but as foon as his army was got be- tween that river and the fmallcr ones, which empty thcmfclvcs into it, be forded it after him, and at- tacked him with his united forces, which had fol- lowed in oifFcrcnt corps at equal diftancesfrom one another, d his battle was fought between the Bo- rifthenes and the BolTa X, Prince 5 Sept. 1 1. 1 y©8. I In the RuHian language Socza, OF RUSSIA. 2C I iel« (oflti • m . li th' ixij ’ftx* r ''M|- liifin,' )iei£h i{te! nt, ycaii' m lt« mill' ciictf ail*' jotlfr W iii' jflU^ iifJf iiyfl Prince MenzikofF was upon his refurn with the fame body of horfe, with which he had lately en- gaged Charles XII. General Banr follcwed him, and the Czar himfelf headed the flower of his ar- my 1 he bwcdcs in.agincd they had to deal with an army of forty thouiand men, and this was be- lieved for a long time : but my late memoirs in- form me, that Peter bad no more than twenty thou- fand in that day’s memorable battle, a number noc much fuperior to that of the Swedes : but his vi- gour, his patience, his unwcaiied perfeverance, to- gether with that of hjs troops, animated by his prefcncc, decided the fortune, not of that day on- ly, but of the three fuccelTive days, during which the battle was renewed at different limes. The Ruffians attacked firft the rear of the Swe- difti army, near the village of Lefnau, from whence this battle borrows its nam.c. U his firfl ftiock wa^ bloody, without proving decifive §. Lewenhaupe retreated into a wood, and thereby faved his bag- gage, The next morning, when the Swedes were to be driven from the wood, the adllon was ftill moie bloody, and more to the advantage of the Ruffians. Here it was that the Czar, feeing his troops in diforder, cried out to the rear-guard to fire upon the runaways, and even upon himfelf, if they faw him retreat cowardly The Swedes were repulfcd, but not thrown into confufion. At length a rciniorccment cf foui thoufand dra* goons arriving, he fell upon the Swedes a third K 4 time, § OCt, 8. I70». A 702 THE HISTORY time, who retreated to a fmall town called Profpock, wlicre they were again attacked ; they then march- ed towards the Defna, the RufTians ftill purfuing them ; yet they were never broken, but loft up- wards of eight thoufand men, feventeen pieces of cannon, and forty four colours : the Czar took fif- ty* fix »ofFicers, and near nine hundred private men prifoners, and the great convoy of provifions and ammunition that were defigned for Charles’s army, fell into the hands of the conqueror. This was the fir ft time that the Czar in perfon gained a pitched battle againft an enemy who had diftinguiftied tbcmfelves by fo many vi£Iories over his army ; be proclaimed a general thankfgiving for hi victories, upon hearing that general Apraxin had gained an advantage in Ingria near Narva; an advantage which was not fo great as that of Lef- iiau ; but this concurrence of fortunate events greatly raifed the hopes and courage of his troops. Chawles received this terrible news juft as he was ready to pafs the Defna in the Ukraine. Ma- zeppa now joined him ; butinftead of twenty tbou- fand men, and an immenfe quantity of provifions, which he was to have brought with him, he came with only two regiments, and appeared rather like a traitor applying for afliftance, than a prince, who was bringing powerful fuccours to bis ally. This CofTack had indeed begun his march with near fix- tcen thoufand of his people, whom he made believe ftt their firft fetting out, that they were going a- gainft I Sept. 17. 1708, OF RUSSIA. 203 gainft the king of Sweden ; that they would have the glory of flopping that hero on this march, and that Peter would be eternally oblige ! to them for fo great a fervice. But when they arrived near the Defna, he told his real clefign. Thefe generous people receiv d his propofal with indignation : they refufed to be- tray a monarch, againll whom they had no caiifc of complaint, for the fake of a Swede, wlio had in- vaded their country, an aflies by the Ruf- lians. He, advancing fouth eaft, came to ihofe fan* dy deferts, bordered by mouncains, that frparatc the Nogay Tartars from the Cc fldcks. To the eail- ward of thefe mountains, are the altars of Alexan- der, Charles was now on the oilier fide of the U- kraine, in 4 he road that the Tartars tdkc to Rudia ; and and when he penetrated thus far, he was obliged to return back again to procure fublidence : the inha- bitants, having retired with all their cattle into their dens and lurking places, would fometimes de- fend their fubfidence againd the foidiers, who cnme to deprive them of it. buch’ of thefe poor wretches who could be tound, were put to death, agreeable to what are falfly called the rights of war I can- not here forbear tranfcribing a few lines from Nor- berg. “ As an indance, fays he, of the king's re- gard to juftice, I lhall infcrt a note, which he wrote with his own hand to colonel Hcilmen " “ Colonel, I AM very well pleafed that you have taken thefe peafants, who carried off a v'>wedilh foldier. As foon as they are convidcd of the crime, let them be punifhed with death, according to the exigency of the cafe. Charles, and lower down, Bodis.'^ Such are tne fcntiments of judicc and humani- ty (liewn by a king'i> conlcflbr *, but had the pea- fants of the Ukraine had it in their power to hang the regimented pcaUnts of liafl Gothland, who thought they had a ight to come fo far to plun ler them, their wives, and families, would not the con- felTirs and chaplains ot thcic Ukrainers have had eq al rea on to extol their juliice ? Mazeppa had, tor a conliderable time, been in treatv v\ith the Zsporavians, who live about the two flioies of the Boridhenes, and of whom pait in- habi* the iflands (ituated on that river. It is this diviiiou tout forms the nation, uf whom mention has 208 THE HISTORY has already been made in the firfl chapter of this hiflory, and who having neither wives nor families, fuhhft entirely by robbery During the winter they heap up p-r-ovifions in their iflands, which they after* wards go and fell in the fummer, in the little town of Pultowa ; the refl dwell in fmall hamlets, to the right and left of this river. They all together chufe a particular httman, and this hetman is fub- ordinatc to him of the Ukraine. The peifon at that time ar the head of the Zaporavians had an in- terview with Mazeppa *, and thefe two barbarians had each of them an horfe’s tail and a club born before him, as enfigns of honour. In order to fliew what this hetman of the Za- poravians, and his fubjetfs, were, 1 think it not un- worthy of hiflory, to relate the manner in which this treaty was concluded. Mazeppa gave a great feafl to the hetman of the Zaporavians, and his principal cflicers, who were all ferved in plate. As foon as thefe chiefs had made thcmfelvcs drunk with brandy, they took an oath (without ftirring from the table) upon the cvangelids, to fupply Charles with men and provifions ; after which rhty carried off all the plate and other table-furniture. Mazfppa’s ileward ran after them, and remonftrated, that fuch behaviour ill fuited with the doftrine of the gofpels on which they had fo lately fworn. Some of ^lazeppa’s domeilicks were for taking the plate away by force ; but the Zaporavians went in a body to complain to Mazeppa, of the unparalleled afTro! t ofl'ered to fuch brave felloes, and demand- ed to have the fteward delivered up to them, that they ij^i $1 k V sc I I . ^11: i\ ic* jjr ftl n If ilt tc (0 h OF RUSSIA. 209 tliev might puniOi him according to hw. This was accordingly complied with, and the Zaporavi- ans, according to law, t fled this poor man from one to another like a foot ball, and afterwards plunged a knilc into his heart. Such were the new allies that Charles XII, was obliged to receive, part of whom he formed into a regiment o^ two ihoufand men ^ the remainder ma' ched in feparate bodies againft the Coffack- and C^lmucks of the Czar’s party, that were ftationed ab ut that diftrift. I HE little town of Pultowa, with which thofe Z.i' oravians carry on a trade, abounded with pro- viuons, and might have ferved Charles for a place of arms. It is fituated on the river Workflaw, near a chain of mountains, which command it on the north fide 1 o the ealhvard is a vaft defart. ' I he weltern part is the moft fruitful, and the befl peo* pled The Worfklaw runs into the Borillhencs, about fifteen leagues lower down. From Pultowa, yen pafs northward, through the defiles which com- municate With the road to Mofeow, a pallage ufed by the Tartars ft is very d^fBcult of acccU, and the precautions taken by the Czar had rendered it almoft unpiflable ; but nothing appeared impoifiblc to Charles, and he depended upon marching to Mof- eow, as foon as he had made himfcif mailer of Pul- towa. With this view he laid liege to that town in the beginning of iMay*. CHAP. 210 THE HISTORY On ;tiit CHAP. XVIIU ; 55?C Battle of Pultowa. h The year 1709 . M\ I T was here that Peter expcfted him. He had difpofcd the fevcral bodies of his army at cori' venient diflances for joining each other, and march- ing all together againft the bcfiegers: he had vifit- ed the countries - which lurround the Ukraine; namely, the duchy of Scveria, watered by the Del- na» already famous for his late viftory ; ihe coim- try of 13olcho, from which the Occa takes its fburce; the defarrs and mountains leading to the Palus Mae* ^ otjs; and lad of all, he had been in the neighbour- hood of Afoph, where he caufed the harbour to be cleanfed, velTels to be built, and the citadel of fa- ganroc to be fortiiicd.; i'hus bad he employed the time that pafTed between the battles of Lefnau and Pultowa, in preparing for the defence of his domi« ^ nions. As focn as he knew hat ciry was befieged, he afTcmbled all hi-? forces ; his cavalry, dragoons, infantry, CofTacks, and Calmucks, advanced from twenty different places. Nothing « as wanting in - his army; Jarge cannon,, field-pieces, ammuniti- ^ on of all forts, piovifions, and even medicines for the fick ; in this reipeC\ he was greatly fuperior to his rival. On OF RUSSIA. 211 On the fiTteenth day of June 1709, he appeared before Pultowa with an army of about fixty thou- fand efFcftive men. The river Worfklaw was be* tween him and Charles, The befiegers were en* caniped on the north-weft fide of that river, the Ruflians on the fouth-eaft. Peter afeends the river above the town, fixes the barges, marches over with his whole force, and draws a long line of inirenchments which were begun and compleated in one night in the face of the enemy. Charles might then cafily judge, whether the perfun whom he fo much defpifed, and whom he thought of dethroning at Mofeow, under* flood the art of war. This difpofition being made, Peter polled his horfe between two woods, and csverco it with fcveral redoubts, lined with artillery, leaving thus taken all neceffary precautions, he went to reconnoitre the enemy’s camp in order to form the attack % This battle was to decide the fate of Ruffia, Poland, and Sweden, and of two monarchs, on -whom the eyes of all liurope were fixed The greateft part of thofc nations who were attentive to thefe important concerns, were equally ignorant ot the place where thefe two princes were, and of their fituation ; but knowing that Charles XII. nad lelt Saxony, at the head ol a victorious army, and that he was driving his enemy every where before him, they no longer doubted that he would at length entirely crufh him ; and that as he had already I July 170V. t June 3, 17 ^ 9 - given 21-2 the history given laws to Denmark, Poland, and Germany, he would di6\arc conditions of peace in the Kremlrn jiK- of Mofeow, atid make a new Czar, as he had al- ready made a new king of Poland, I have feen -■ letters from feveral public minifters to their refpec- iS? tive courts, confirming this general opinion. f The rilk was far from being equal between thefe two great rivals. If Charles loft a life, which he affl had fo often, and fooliftily expofed, there would e:t only have been one hero lefs in the world. The provinces of the Ukraine, the frontiers of Lithua- sa* nia and Ruftia, would then be delivered from their dt calamities. Poland would, together with her tran- lim quillity, recover her lawful king, who had been tos lately reconciled to the Czar his benefadftor ; and laftly, Sweden, tho' exhauited of men and money, rij might find motives of confolation under her heavy ki loftes. -lo! But if the Czar had periflied, the public would i have been robbed of all thofe ufeful undertakings [it which he had concerted and purfued for the bene- nc fit of mankind *, and Ruftia would have relapfed in- n to the woful ftate from which llie had fo lately been \n brought. t{[ There had already been fome fmall (kirmilhes ^ between the detached parties of Swedes and Ruf- ^ fians, under the walls of Pultowa. In one of thefe ^ Chafles had been wounded with a fhot Irom a ca- 1!{, rabine which had fliattered the bones of his heel, He underwent feveral painful operations, which he Cl I June 17* i70f. bore OF RUSSIA. 2\i bore with his ufual fortitude, but was confined to his bed for fomc days. In this fituation he was informed, that Peter defigned to attack him. His • notions of glory would not fuffer him to wait to be attacked in his entrenchments : accordingly he gave orders for drawing out his troops, and was carried himfelf in a litter. Peter the Great ac- knowledges, in his journal, that the Swedes attac- ked the redoubts that covered his cavalry, with fuch obHinate valour, that, in fpite of the ftrongefl refifiance from his cannon, they made the nfelves mafters of two redoubts. Some writers fay, that when the '»wedifii infantry were in pofTelTion of the two redoubts, they thought the day their own, and began to cry out ViCiory. Norberg the chaplain, who was at fome great diftance from the field of battle, amongft the baggage, pretends, that this is a calumny •, but whether the Swedes cried out vic- tory or not, it rs certain they were not vidJorious. The fire from the other redoubts was kept up with- out abating, and the refinance made on every pirt was as firm as the attack of their aflailants was vi- gorous. They did not make one irregular move- ment ; the Czar drew up his army before the en- trenchments with great readinefs and order. I HE battle now became general. Peter a£Ved as major general ; Baur commanded the right wing, ]MenzikofF the left, and Scheremetow the center. The aclion lafted two hours ; Charles with a pillol in his hand went from rank to rank, carried by his drabans in a litter, one of whom was killed by a cannon-ball, and at the fame time the litter was (battered 214 THE HISTORY fliattered in pieces. He then ordered his men to Carry him upon pikes ; tor it wouKr have been dif« ficult in fo bloody an engagement, let .sorberg fay as he plcafes, to find a frelh litter ready made. Perer received feveral (hot in his deaths and his bat; both princes were in the midll of the fire, during the whole action. At length, after two hours dafperatc fighting, the Swedes gave way on all fides, and rell into coniufion, fo that Charles was obliged to fly with precipitation bclore Peter, whom he had hitherto held in great contempt. This very hero, who was not able to mount his faddlc during the battle, now fled for his life on borfe back; necefTity gave him flrength in his re- treat ; he fu/Ferccl the ifioft excruciating pain, which was increafed by the mortifying reflc(tlion of being Tanquifhed, without hopes of ever again being able to look his enemy in the face. 1 he KufBans rec- ki ned nine thoutand two hundred and twenty four Swedes left dead on the field of battle, and between two and three thoufand made priloners in the a6fi» on, which were chiefly cavalry. Chakles, in his flight, was attended only by fourteen ihouiand men, a few field-pieces, anil very fmall quantity of provifions and ammunition. He directed his march fouthward, towards the Bo- nflhenes, between the rivers VVoifklaw and bol f, in the country of the Zaporavians. Beyond the Bo- rilfhcnes arc large delarrs, which lead to the fron- tiers of lutky. Morberg affirms, that the vidlors 1 Or PfoL durft OF RUSSIA. 215 durft not purfue Charles ; yet he acknowledges, that Mriizikoff appeared on the adjoining eminen- ces, with ten thoufand horfe, and a confidcrable train of artillery f, while the king was pafling the Uoriflhenes. Fourteen thoufand Swedes furrendered them^ fcives prifoners of war to thefe ten thoufand Ruffi- ans ; and l^ewenhaupt, who commanded them, figned the fatal capitulation, by which he gave up ihofe Zaporavians who had engaged in the fervicc of his mafier, and were then in the flying army. The chief perfons taken prifoners in the battle, and by the capitulation, were count Piper, the firll mi- nifler, with two lecretaries of (late, and two of the cabinet, field-marfhal Renfchild, the generals Lew- enhaupt, Slippembac, Rozen, Stakelber, Creutz, and Hamilton, and three general aid-de-camps, the auditor general of the army, fifty-nine (la fF- officers, five colonels, am ng whom was the prince of Wir- temberg, fixteen thoufand nine hundred and forty two private men and fubahern officers v in fine, reckoning the king’s domeflics, and other atten- dants on the army, the coiicjueior took no lefs thaii eighteen thoufand feven hundred and forty fix prifoners ; and, if we add nine thoufand two hun- dred and twenty four flain in the battle, and near two thoufand men thirt paffed the Boriflhenes in the king’s retinue, it appears plainly, that he had no lefs than twenty leven ihouiand etTeclive men un- der his command on that memorable day f July II 1709- , , ^ i The memoirs of Tctcr ilic Great, by the pretended boyar Iw.n Charles 2i6 THE HISTORY Chirles had begun his march from Saxony with forty“fivc thoufand men ; Levvenhaupt had 'Bci brought upwards of fixtecn thoufand from Livonia, and now this once flouriftiing and powerful army was no more ; he loft in the moraffes and on the march, the whole of his artillery, except eighteen brafs cannon, two haubitzerfi, and twelve mortars; and with fo inconfiderable a force, he had under- taken the fiegc of Pultowa, and had attacked an ar- my provided with a fornddable train of artillery. i,* Therefore his accufation is juft, of having Ihcwn fwt more courage than prudence, after departing from .'nk Gern any. On the fide of the Ruffians there were ;lc4 only fifty two rfficers, and one thoufand two hun- jiio died common men killed ; which makes it appear inti that Peter made a better difpofition of his troops 'put than Charles, and that the fire of the Ruffians was iri infinitely fuperior to that of the Swedes. I We find, in the memoirs of a foreign miniftcr A to the court of Ruffia, that Peter, on hearing of iii Chailcs's defign to take refuge in Tuiky, wrote a aii friendly letter to him, defiring him not to take fo Kr defperate a refolution, but rather to believe his fa- cred word, and truft himfelf in hi hands, than in i>:i thofc of the natuial enemy of Chiiftendom. He gave him, at the fame time, his woid of honour i;' not to detain him prifoner, but that all their differ- n cnees fliould be terminated by a rcafonable peace, ji- Ndfc/uranoy, printeJ af AmOerdam in 1 7jp, fiy, that the king of if Sweden, before he palfcd ihc Borilihcnes, tentage eral officer with jj propofais of peace to the Cxar The four volumes of thefc memoir} are either a collcdion of untruths and abfurditics, or compilaiionsfrom couiinon uews papers. if This OF RUSSIA. >!Hii Liiot; m lilK^ ht ^ yiJa ' wi: 10 b 11 ip StMf bif ffiii Olit!: ri'i 03Si fcb) thi: !ii> i IfiiJt- efOJ^ !Bi 2! 7 This letter was fent by an exprefs as far as the ri- ver Bug, which feparates the defarts of the Ukraine from the Grand Seignior’s dominions. As the mefTengcr did not reach that place, tKll Charles had entered Turky, he brought back the letter to his maftcr. The fame miniller adds further, that he had this account from the very perfon charged with the letter %. This anecdote is not altogether im- probable, but I do not meet with it in Peter’s jour- nals, or in any of the memorials trufted to my care. What is of greater importance with refpeft to this battle, was, its being the only one of a great -num- ber that have drenched the earth with bloqd, that inilead of producing only deftru£tion, has proved beneficial to mankind, fince by means of this, it gave the Czar an opportunity of civilizing fo confi- derable a part of the woild. There have been upwards oftwo hundred pitch- ed battles fought in iiurope fince the beginning of this century, to the prefent year. 1 he moft fignal, and the m.oft bloody vidories, have produced no o- ther confcqucnccs, than the redudion of a few pro- vinces, y /elded alter wards by treaties, and retaken again by other battles. Armies of an hundred thoufand men have often engaged each other in the field y but the moft violent efforts have been at- tended only with momentary fucceffes : the moft trivial caufes have been productive of the greateft effeds. There is no example in modern hiftoiy of any war that has compenfated by a greater good for \ Th\% M is likcvvif: found la a letter, printed before the anecdotes of KulHi, p. » J. , THE HISTORY ai8 the many evils it has occafioned ; for the bappinefs sjJa of the i.’reate(> empire on the eaiih has relulted from ;(dts the battle of Pultowa, fesi iid: CHAP. XIX. Confeqnenccs of the battle of Piiltowa. Charles X!L takes refvge among the Turks AuguJiuSy •whom he had dethroned, recovers his dominions. Con* V quejls oj Peter the Great. The years 1709 and 1710. A F T F R the battle and purfuit v/as over, the chief p' ifoners of rank were prefented to the conqueror, who ordered their fwords to be return- ed. and invited them to dine with him. It was a well known truth, that, on drinking:: to the officers, he faid, “ To the health of my rTiaflers in the arc of war.’’ llovcver. mofl: of his mafters, particu- larly the fubaltetn officers, and all the private fol- dicrs, were fuon afterwards fent into Siberia. There was no carte! eflabliihed for exchange of prifoners between the Ruffians and Swedes ; the Czar indeed had pr pofed one before the firge of Pultowa, but Charles reje£led the offer, and his troops were in every thing the virflims of his inflexible haughtinefs of temper. It was this unwarrantable obflinacy that occafi- oned ktlii if. IB' M in ■ b ifc |w '©r •iul ■ I )WC , IWt- k Qai OF RUSSIA. Ofiecl all the misfortunes of Charles in Turky* ami a feries of adventures more becoming a Don Quixote than a wife or prudent king; for as foon as he ar- rived at Bender, he was advifed to write to the Grand Vifier, as is the cuftom among the Turks ; but this he thought would be demeaning himfclftoo far. The like obftinacy ma^e him fall our with all the minifters of the Porte one after another ; in (hort, he knew not how to accommodate himfelf cither to times or places. The firfi news of the battle of Pultowa produ- ced a general revolution in Poland, Saxony, Swe- den, and Silefia. Charles, while all powerful in thofe parts, had forced the emperor Jofeph to take an hundred and five churches from the Catholics in favour of the Silefians of the confeflion of Augf- burg. The Catholics there no fooner received news of the defeat of Charles, than they repoflefled them-* felves of all the Lutheran temples. The Saxons now thought of nothing but being revenged for the extortions of a conqueror, who had robbed them, according to their own account, of twenty three millions of crowns. The king of Poland their eIe£l:or immediately protefted againft the abdication that had been ex- torted from him *, and being now reconciled to the Czar, he ufed all pofliblc means to re-afeend the Polilb throne. Sweden, overwhelmed with confiernation, thought their king for a long time dead, VOL.I. Aug. r». 1 7op. L 2)0 THE HISTORY dead, and in this uncertainty the fenate knew not :!ai what rcfolution to come to, ' Th Peter in the mean time determined to make ^ the btft ufe of his vidory, and therefore difpatched Ijifcc marflial Scheremetow with an army into Livonia, on 5:F ihc frontiers of which province that general had fo fefc often been viftoiious. Prince MenzikofF was lent in hade with a numerous body of cavalry to lecond the few troops Icit in Poland, and to encourage the So nobles who w'erc in the interelt of AuguQus, to drive ijjtic out his competitor, who was now confidcred as no better than a rebel, and to difpcrfc a body of Swedes and troops that were dill in that kingdom under p| the command of general Craflau. ire$ Peter foon after fets out in perfon, marches through the province of Kiow, and the palatinates of Chelm and Upper Volhinia, and at length ar- ^ rives at Lublin, where he concerts meafures with ||;^ the general of Lithuania He then reviews the crown treqp^, who all take the oath or allegiance jbh to king Auguftus ; from thence he proceeds to ^ War fa w, and at Thorn enjoyed the mod glorious of all triumphs that of leceiving the thanks of a king, whom he had redored. Here it was that q:^| he concluded a treaty againd Sweden '^i^h the ju; kings of Denmark, Poland, and Piud'ia; in which it was refolved to recover from Charles all the con- queds of Gudavus Adolphus. Peter revived the ancient pretenfions or the Czars to Livonia, Ingria, ig Carclia, and part of Finland j Denmark laid claim bti • Sept. i3. I7cp. t Oa. 7 . * 7op. [jy to OF RUSSIA. 72t to Scania, and the kin^ of PrufTia to Pomerania. Thus had Charles XII by his unfuccefsful va- lour, (hook the noble edifice that had been erefted by the fuccclsful bravery of Guftavus Adolphus. The Polifh nobility came in on all Tides to renew their oaths to their king, or to alk pardon for hav- ing deferred him ; and almoft the whole kingdom acknowledged Peter for its proteftor. So unexpe£led a revolution, with the fubfequent treaties, made Staniflaus unable to make any fur- ther rcfiftance, and therefore refolved on refigning the crown, if the republic required it. Peter having concerted all the necefiary mea- fures with the king of Poland, and ratified the trea* ty with Denmark, ported away to finifh his negoti^ aiion with the king of Pruflia. It was not com- mon for fovereign princes to perform the fundbion of iheir own ambaflidors. Peter was the firft who inttOiiuced this curtom, but few have followed his exa nple The de£tor of Brandenburg, the firrt king of PrufTia, bad a conference with the Czar at Marenverder, a fmall town fituated in the wcltcrn parr of Pomerania, built by the old Teutonic knights, and included in the limits of Pruflii, late- ly made a kingdom. This country was but poor, and of a fmall extent ; but its new king, whenever he made a tour, difplayed the utmort magnificence. He had received Czar Peter with great fplendor at his firrt parting through his dominions, when that prince left his empire to improve himfclf among* foreigners But he received the conqueror of Charles XII. in a ftill more pompous manner. Pe- L 4 ter 22a the history ter for this tin^e concluded only a defenfive treaty {fkl with him which afterwards, however, completed gbo the ruin of Sweden. tc‘0 Peter loft no time, and having difpatched all his negotiations in a much (horter time than am- ||tti bafladors commonly do, joins his army then before iuii Riga, the capital of Livonia. He began by bom- feR barding the place, and fired off the three firft bombs h himfelf f; then changed the fiege into a blockade, d | and being well affured, that Riga could not bold |^;| our, he repaired to Peterfburg, to view and forward iq, the works carrying on there, the new buildings, and fniftung of his fleet; and having laid the keel of a (hip of fifty-four guns, with his own hands, he f returned to iVlofcow Here he amufed himlelf ^ with alTiftiog in the preparations for the tci- Vmphal entry, which he exhibited in that capi- ^ tal. He directed every thing relating to that fe(^ ^jj tival, and was himfelf the principal contriver and liof manager. ^ '1 HE year 1710 was begun with this folemnity, fo necefiary to his fubjc<£t«> whom it infpired with notions of grandeur, and was highly delightful to ^ every one who had been afraid of feeing the Swedes enter as conquerors, over whom they were now yidorious. Seven magnificent arches were built, under which paffed the artillery, flandards, and jjj colours of the enemy, with all the officers, gene- rals, and minifters, who had been taken prifoners ; all moved in proceflion on foot, amidft the ringing ^ b • O^t, ao. 170P, fNo'^**** I Dec. 3, of OF R IT S S I A. 123 of bellsi the found of trumpets, the difeharge of sin hundred pieces of cannon, and the acclamati- ons of an innumerable concourfe of people, whofe voices rent the air The procefQon clofcd by the viftorious army, with the generals at its head on horfeback ; and Peter, who marched in his rank- of major general, brought up the rear. At each triumphal arch ilood the deputies of the feveral orders of the Hate ; and at the lad was a chofen troop of young geofle- men, the fons of boyars, in Ko nan habits, who prefented their victorious monarch with a laurel crown. This public feftival was followed by another ce- remony, which proved no lefs fatisUctory tha;) tnc former. In the year 4 oS happened an acc-ivient the more dilagreeable to Peter, as his arm? were at that time unfuccefsful Mattheof his ainbwlfa'* dor to the court of London, having had his audr- cnce oi Irave of Queen Anne, wa aneded lor debt at the fuit ol lomc iMiglilh merchants, and carried before ajultice of the peace to give fccurity for ihe monies he owed iheie. Ihe merchants in- filled that the laws of commerce ought to pievail before the privileges of foreign minifters ; the Czar’s ambaliador, and with him all the public nvi- nifters, protefted againil this proceeding, allcdging, that their perfons ought to be always inviolable. The Czar wrote to Queen inne, demanding latif- fa£iion for the inluit offered him in the perlon of his ainbafTador But the queen had it not in her power to ob- L 3 lige 224 THE HISTORY H^»e him, becaufe, by the laws of England, tradef# ‘ men were allowed to profecute their debtors, and there was no law that exempted public minillers from fuch profecution. The murder of Patkul the Czar’s ambaflador, who had been executed the year before by the orders of Charles XII. had emboldened the Englifli to fliew little regard to a chara£Ier which had been fo cruelly profan- ^ ed. I he other public miniders then refidin^ at the court of London, were obliged to be bound for the Czar’s ambaflador ; and at length, all the queen could do in his favour, was to prevail on her parliament to pafs an aft, by which no one for the future could arrefl an ambaflador for debt; but after the battle of Puitowa the Englifh court . thought proper to give more public fatisfaftion to 21 the Czar. .The queen made by a formal embaflTy an excufe ^ for what had pafled f» Mr. Whitworth, thepcifon charged with this commiffion, began this harangue with the following words, Molt high and migh- ty Emperor.” He told the Czar, that the perfon who bad prefumed to arreft his ambaflador had been k imprifoned, and rendered infamous. There was tii no truth in all this, but it was iufiicient that he Cu laid fo ; and the title of Emperor, which the queen etc had not given Peter before the battle of Puitowa, Uf plainly flicwed of what coiifcquence be was looked it on in Europe. i: This title had been already granted him in Hoi- mi land, t Feb. i 6 . 1710. land, not only by ihofe who had been his fellow workmen in the dock^yards at baarilamj and feem- cd to intereli themfelvcs rnoil in his glory, but iike- wife by the principal pcrlons in the ftate, who un* animouflv ftiled him E uperor, and made public rejoicings for his victory, even in the prefence of the Swedifli miniller. T«e great reputation which he had acquired by his vitlory of i ultoway was dill further encrcafcd by his manner of improving it. he laid fiege to Hbing, a Hanfc town of Regal Pruflia in Po- land, where the iSwedes had dill a garrifon. ihc Rudlans mounted the walls, entered the town, and the garrifon furrendered prifoners of war f. ihis was one ol the bed magazines belonging to Charles XU. The conquerors found therein one hundred and eighty three brafs cannon, and one hundred and filty-feven mortars After the reduction of Elbing +, Peter immediately hadened from Mof- cow to Peterfburg : no fooner was he arrived at this latter place than he took (hipping under his new fortiefs of Cronflot, fcours the coads of Carc- lia, and notwithdanding a violent dorm, arrives with bis fleet falely before Wyburg, the capita] of Carclia in Finlandia w^hile his land-forces advanced over the frozen morades, and in a fhort time the capital of Livonia is clofcly blockaded §; and after a breach was made in the walls* Wyburg lurren- deied, and the garrifon, confiding of four thouUnd men, capitulated, but did not receive the honours § June i3. t March 1 1. 1710. } April 1, of THE HISTORY of war, being made prifoners notwiihflanding the capitulation, Peter complained of the enemy for having made feveral infradfions of this kind, and promifcd to fet thcfe troops at liberty, as foon as he (hould receive fatisfadtion from the Swedes. On this occdfion the king of Sweden was to be confulted, who continued as inflexible as ever; and thofc foldicrs, whom he might have fet free, remained in captivity. Thus king Wil- liam III. in '6 v 5, arrcfted marflial Boufflcrs, notwithftanding the capitulation of Namur, There have been feveral initances of thefe violations of treaties ; but it is to be wiflied there never had been any* After the taking of this capital, the blockade of Riga was changed into a regular fiege, and pufh* ed on with vigour, I hey were obliged to break the ice on the river Dwina. which waters the north of the city wails. An epidemical diftemper, which had raged fometimein thofc parts, now got amogg •the foldicrs, and carried ofF nine thoufand; yet the fiege was not in the Icaft abated. The garrifon at laft capitulated, and were allowed the honours of war §, but it w.a6 agreed by the capitulation, that all the i.ivonian oflScers and foldicrs fhould inlilt into the Ruflian fervicc, as natives of a country that had been difmcmbered from that empire, and ufurped by ihe anceftors of Charles XII. Out the Livonians were reltorcd to the privileges, of which his father had ftript them, and all the officers entered into the [pt’i liiin Pe h' w’ npj I m w. tioQ \m toi: kE tile fill HC ilie IlDi Czar's OF RUSSIA. 3 17 Czar’s fcrvice. This was the mod noble vengeance that Peter was capable of taking for the murder of his ambaflador Patkul, a Livonian, who had been put to death, for defending thofe privileges. The garrifon confided of five thoufand men. A (hort time afterwards, the citadal ot Dunamund was ta- ken, and the befiegers found in the city and fort above eight hundred pieces of artillery. Petek now wanted nothing to make himfelf entirely mailer of the province of Carelia, but the pofitflipn of the drong city of Kexholm, built on ail ifla.nd in the lake of Ladoga, and deem- ed impregnable ; it was bombarded fooii af*» ter, and furrendered in a fhort time*. 1 he iiland of Oefel in the Tea. bordering upon the north of Livonia, was fubdued with the fame rapidity j. Un the fide of Edonia, a province of Livonia^ tpwafds the north, and on the gulph of Finland, are the towns Pernau and Revel : by the reduce tion of thefe Peter compleatcd the conqued of all Lcivonia. Pernau furrendered alter a fiege of a few days J, and Revel capiiulatcd without waiting to have a finglc cannon fired againd it but the befieged 'ound means to elude the conqueror, at the very time they were furrendering themielvcs prifoners of war : for fome Swedidi (hips having anchored in the road, under favour of the night, the garrifon and mod ol the citizens embarked oa board, and when the befiegers entered the town, • 5 cpi. 1^.1710. lAug. IS. § Sept. 10. they 228 THE HISTORY . mi i they were furprifed to find it deferted. When Charles Xll gained the vi£tr>ry of Narva, little did he expeft that his troops would one day be driven to ufe fuch ftratagems. In Poland, Staniflaus finding his army entirely ruined, took (belter in Pomerania, which Hill be- longed to Charles XII. Auguflus refumed the go- vernment, and it was difficult co decide who had acquired moft glory, Charles in dethroning him, or Peter in refloring him to his crown. The fubjefts of the king of .Sweden were (till more unfortunate than that monarch himfelf. The contagious dirtemper, which had made fuch havock over Livonia, puffed from thence into Sweden; where, in the city of Stockholm, it fwept away thirty thout'and perfons ; it likewife defolated the provinces already almoft depopulated^ for curing the fpace of ten years lucct (lively, moft of the able-bodied men had quitted th ir country to fellow their matter, and pcrilhed in foreign countries. Charles’s bad fortune purfued him alfo in Po- merania. His troops having come hither from Po- land, to the number of eleven th mfand; the Czar, the kings of Denmark and Pruffia, the eledor of Hanover, and the duke of Holltcin, joined together to render this army ufelcfs, and to oblige general CrafTau, who commanded it, to (ubmit to a neu- trality. The regency of Stockholm hearing no news of their king, and diltrcflcd by the mortality that raged in that city, were glad to fign this neu- trality, vrhjcti piumiled to deliver one of its p^'O- vinccfr i^orol w ii!) m b tl fat of attic B»!le (tils Hitt * M ' Cs jiittifl iiru) Kt$ iiiis; Min I Vi ' lord, pTCl ■ Tl , kud fii ! Ffin ^ toati dS igaii idi 129 vinccs at lead from the horrors of war. The em- peror of Germany favoured this ext aordinary'con- vention, by which it was ft pulated, that the Swe- difti army then in Pomerania ftiould not march from thence to aflift their monarch in any other part of the world ; nay, it was furthermore refolved in the German empire, to raife an army to fee this moft extraordinary treaty executed. The reafon of this was, that the emperor of Germany, who was then at war with France, was in hopes to engage the Swediih army to enter into his fer- vice. This whole negotiation was carried on while Peter was fubduing Livonia, Eftonia and Carelia. Charles XII. who was all this time at Bender, putting every ftraragem in execution to engage the divan to declare war againft the Czar, received this news as one of the fevereft blows that could happen him; he could not bear that the fenate of Stock- holm fhould pretend to tie up the hands of his ar- my j and it was on this occaGon that he wrote them word, that he would fend them one of his boots to govern them. The Danes were now making preparations to invade Sweden ; fo that every nation in Europe was engaged in war, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, and England, were contending for the dominions left by Charles II, of Spaing and the whole riorth was up in arms againlt Charles XII* There wanted only a quar- rel with the Ottoman empire, for every village in Europe 230 THE H 1 S T O R Y, &c. Europe to be expofed to the ravages of war. This quarrel happened through the jealoufy of the Turks foon after, when Peter had got to the top of his glory. END or THE FIRST VOLDME. i ^ DK III V . • I 1 18