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SCRIBNER'S MONTHLY.

No. I.

VOL. XXI.

NOVEMBER, 1880.

PETER THE GREAT AS RULER AND REFORMER. I.
[Copyright, 1880, by Eugene Schuyler. All rights reserved.]

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THE Tsar's feeling was so strong with regard to what might be learnt about shipbuilding in foreign countries that, after he had sent off many of his subjects to study the trade, he resolved to go himself. Without ascribing to this journey all the importance which Macaulay did when he said, "His journey is an epoch in the history, not only of his own country, but of ours, and of the world," we must admit that it was a remarkable event, and one fraught with much consequence. Since the exiled Izyasláv visited the court of the Emperor Henry IV., at Mayence, in 1075, no Russian ruler had ever been out of his dominions. Peter's journey marks the division between the old Russia, an exclusive, little known country, and the new Russia, an important factor in European politics. It was also one of the turning points in the development of his character, and was the continuation of the education begun in the German suburb. In one way, it may be said that Peter's appearance in the German suburb was really more startling, and of more importance, than his journey westward, for that journey was the natural consequence and culmination of his intercourse with foreigners at Moscow.

This sudden and mysterious journey of the Tsar abroad exercised the minds of Peter's contemporaries no less than it has those of moderns. Many were the reasons which were ascribed then, and have been given since, for this step. There was even VOL. XXI.-1.

a dispute among the students of the University of Thorn as to the reasons which had induced the Tsar to travel. Pleyer, the secret Austrian agent, wrote to the Emperor Leopold that the whole embassy was "merely a cloak for the freedom sought by the Tsar, to get out of his own country and divert himself a little." Another document in the archives at Vienna finds the cause of the journey in a vow made by Peter, when in danger on the White Sea, to make a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, at Rome. According to Voltaire, “He resolved to absent himself for some years from his dominions, in order to learn how better to govern them." Napoleon said: "He left his country to deliver himself for a while from the crown, so as to learn ordinary life, and to remount by degrees to greatness." But every authentic source gives us but one reason, and the same. Peter went abroad, not to fulfill a vow, not to amuse himself, not to become more civilized, not to learn the art of government, but simply to become a good shipwright. His mind was filled with the idea of creating a navy on the Black Sea for use against the Turks, and his tastes were still, as they had always been, purely mechanical. For this purpose, as he himself says, as his prolonged residence in Holland shows, he desired to have an opportunity of studying the art of shipbuilding in those places where it was carried to the highest perfection, that is, in Holland, England and Venice.

In order to give the Tsar greater freedom of action, and to save him from too much formality and ceremony, which he exceed

[Copyright, 1880. by Scribner & Co. All rights reserved.]

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ingly disliked, an attempt was made to conceal the purpose of his journey, by means of a great embassy, which should visit the chief countries of Western Europe, to explain the policy of Russia toward Turkey, and to make whatever treaties it was found possible, either for commercial purposes or for the war against the Turks. The embassy consisted of three extraordinary embassadors, at the head of whom was General Lefort. Besides the other rewards he had received for the campaigns against Azof, he had been given the honorary title of Governor-General of Novgorod. The other embassadors

the Governor-General of Siberia, Theodore Golovín, who had already distinguished himself by the treaty of Nertchínsk with the Chinese; and the Governor of Bólkhof, Prokóp Voznítsyn, a skillful and experienced diplomate. In the suite of the embassadors were twenty nobles and thirtyfive others, called volunteers, who, like those previously sent, were going abroad for the study of ship-building. Among these was the Tsar himself. These volunteers were chiefly young men who had been comrades of Peter in his play regiments, in his boatbuilding, and in his campaigns against Azof. Among them may be particularly remarked Alexander Menshikóf and Alexis Galítsyn, two Golovíns, Simeon Naryshkin, and the Prince Alexander Bagrátion of

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Imeritia and Georgia. Including priests, interpreters, pages, singers, and servants of various kinds, the suite of the embassy numbered as many as two hundred and fifty persons. The Tsar himself traveled under the strictest incognito. It was forbidden to give him the title of Majesty, he was always to be addressed simply as Min Her Peter Mikhailof,—and it was forbidden, under pain of death, to mention his presence with the embassy.

During the absence of the Tsar, the government was intrusted to a regency of three persons-Leo Naryshkin, Prince Boris Galítsyn and Prince Peter Prozorófsky, who were given supreme power. Prince Ramodanófsky was charged with maintaining order in Moscow, and he had verbal instructions to follow up, in the severest way, the slightest movement of discontent or rebellion. The boyár Shéïn, assisted by General Gordon, had charge of the defense of the southern frontier on the side of Azof, while Prince Jacob Dolgorúky succeeded the boyár Sheremétief in charge of the defenses against the Tartars on the frontier of Little Russia, and was ordered to get galleys ready for the siege of Otchakóf in the spring of 1698. Sheremétief, who had already served two years in that country, obtained leave of absence and permission to travel abroad. Preparations were nearly finished for the

departure of the embassy, when an unexpected delay occurred. Gordon expressed it thus in his diary: "A merry night has been spoiled by an accident of discovering treason against his Majesty." The colonel of the Streltsi, Iván Tsýkler (spelled also Zickler), of foreign birth or extraction, and two Russian nobles of high rank, Alexis Sokovnín and Theodore Púshkin, were accused of plotting against the life of the Tsar. They were accused on the testimony of Lárion Yelisárof, who was one of the denunciators of the alleged plot against Peter's life in 1689, when he took refuge at Tróitsa. In all probability, there In all probability, there was no plot whatever, but simply loose and unguarded talk between discontented men. Tsykler had always been well treated by the Princess Sophia and Privy-Councilor Shaklovity, but when he saw the preponderance was on the side of Peter, he went to Tróitsa and made denunciations. He did not, however, receive the reward and favor which he expected, but, on the contrary, was looked upon askance, and had recently been sent to Azof. He was naturally irritated against the Tsar, and in unguarded moments probably expressed his feelings too strongly. Sokovnín was a virulent dissenter, and the brother of two ladies well known for their opposition to the Patriarch Nikon, and their encouragement of dissent in the reign of Alexis-Theodora Morózof and the Princess Avdótia Urúsof. He was therefore opposed to many of Peter's innovations; and his father-in-law, Matthew Pushkin, who had been appointed Governor of Azof, had excited the anger of the Tsar because he had refused to send his children

abroad. Theodore Púshkin was one of the sons, and had uttered vague threats of revenge in case the Tsar should have his father whipped to death for his refusal, for rumors to that effect were being industriously circulated. Torture produced confessions of various kinds, and among them repetitions by Tsýkler of the old accusations against the Princess Sophia. The prisoners were speedily condemned, and were beheaded on the Red Place, after having had their arms and legs chopped off. Their heads were exposed on stakes. The confessions of Tsýkler, and the renewed accusations against his sister, excited Peter's mind against the whole of the Miloslávsky family, and in his rage he even went to the length of taking up the body of Iván Miloslávsky,-who had been dead fourteen years, of dragging the coffin by swine to the place of execution, and of placing it in such a position that the blood of the criminals spurted into the face of the corpse.

Even at this time there was much popular discontent and hostile criticism of Peter. Not all of those who saw that reforms were absolutely necessary approved his measures and his conduct. A rumor was spread that the Tsar Iván had publicly proclaimed to all the people: "My brother does not live according to the Church. He goes to the German suburb, and is acquainted with Germans." There was talk, too, of the way in which Peter had abandoned his wife and family, and it was perhaps family affairs which caused the quarrel between Leo Naryshkin and the Lopúkhins, the relatives of Peter's wife. What exactly happened is not known,

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PETER AT WORK IN HIS LODGINGS AT ZAANDAM. (FROM AN ETCHING BY BARON MICHEL KLODT.)

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but Peter Lopúkhin, the uncle of the Tsaritsa, and the Minister of the Palace, was accused of bribery and extortion, and for this, or some other cause, was exiled, together with his brothers, one of them the father of the Tsaritsa. A report was circulated among the common people, and was widely believed, that Peter had assisted with his own hands in applying the torture to his wife's uncle. One man, the monk Abraham, dared to make himself the exponent of the popular feeling, and presented to Peter a petition in which he made mention of the abandonment of his wife, of the relations

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which he had formed in the German suburb, and of the bad feeling which had been excited by the Tsar lowering himself to work at boats, and to appear on foot in the triumphal procession, instead of taking his proper place. As was natural, the petition gave rise to a trial, and Abraham was sent to a distant monastery, and three other men who were implicated were punished with the knout, and sent to Azof.

When these trials were completed, the embassy set out, on the 20th of March, 1697. It was intended to go first to Vienna, then to Venice and Rome, then to Holland and

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England, and to return by the way of Kö-| nigsberg. The trouble in Poland, consequent on the interregnum, made traveling through that country dangerous, and the only way in which Vienna could be reached was by a roundabout journey through Riga, Königsberg and Dresden.

The first experience of the Tsar in a foreign country was an unfortunate one. The Governor of Pskov, who had been ordered to make the arrangements for Peter's journey through Livonia, had neglected to say in his letter to Eric Dalberg, the Governor of Riga, of how many persons the embassy was composed. Dalberg replied, asking the number of the persons in the embassy, and saying that, while he would do his best, he hoped they would. overlook some inconveniences, as a great famine was unfortunately reigning in the country Major Glazenap was sent to the frontier to escort the embassy, but Peter was so impatient, and traveled so fast, that the embassy arrived at the frontier before the proper arrangements had been made to receive them. They therefore found no conveyances, and were obliged to go on to Riga in the carriages brought from Pskov, and trust to their own provisions. A

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short distance from Riga, light carriages and an escort were waiting for them, and they were ceremoniously received in the town with a military parade, while a guard of fifty men was placed near their lodgings. The next day the embassadors sent two of their nobles to thank the governor for his kindness, and a return visit was paid by one of his adjutants. Immediately afterward, Peter wrote to Vinius that they "were received with great honor, and with a salute of twenty-four guns, when they entered and left the fortress." Unfortunately, the embassy was detained at Riga for a whole week by the breaking up of the ice on the Düna, which made crossing impossible. Peter preserved his incognito, and went out to see the town. His military curiosity naturally led him to inspect the fortifications and measure the width and depth of the ditches, when he was somewhat rudely ordered away by the sentinel. Discontented at this, a complaint was made, and the governor apologized, assuring Lefort that no discourtesy was intended. Lefort was satisfied, and said that the sentinel had merely done his duty. It must be remembered that Riga was a frontier town; that Livonia was an outlying province of Sweden,

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