Chapter XIV: Part 14

[87] This same count Poniatowsky, who was at that time in the service of Charles XII., died afterwards castellan of Cracovia, and first senator of the republic of Poland, after having enjoyed all the dignities to which a nobleman of that country can attain. His connexions with Charles XII. during that prince's retirement at Bender, first made him taken notice of; and, it is to be wished, for the honour of his memory, that he had waited till the conclusion of a peace between Sweden and Poland, to be reconciled to king Augustus; but following the dictates of ambition, rather than those of strict honour, he sacrificed the interests of both Charles and Stanislaus, to the care of his own fortune; and, while he appeared the most zealous in their cause, he secretly did them all the ill services he could at the Ottoman Porte: to this double dealing he owed the immense fortune of which he was afterwards possessed. He married the princess Czartoriski, daughter of the castellan of Vilna, a lady, for her heroic spirit, worthy to have been born in the times of ancient Rome: when her eldest son, the present grand chamberlain of the crown, had that famous dispute with Count Tarlo, palatine of Lublin; a dispute which made so much noise in all the public papers in the year 1742, this lady, after having made him shoot at a mark every day, for three weeks, in order to be expert at firing, said to him, as he was mounting his horse, to go to meet his adversary--'Go, my son; but, if you do not acquit yourself with honour in this affair, never appear before me again.' This anecdote may serve as a specimen of the character of our heroine. The family of Czartoriski is descended from the ancient Jagellins, who were, for several ages, in lineal possession of the crown of Poland; and is, at this day, extremely rich and powerful, by the alliances it has contracted, but they have never been able to acquire popularity; and so long as count Tarlo (who was killed in a duel with the young count Poniatowsky) lived, had no influence in the dictines, or lesser assembly of the states, because Tarlo, who was the idol of the nobles, and a sworn enemy to the Czartoriski family, carried every thing before him, and nothing was done but according to his pleasure.

[88] About seventy pounds sterling.

[89] French money, which is always counted by livres and makes about three millions sterling.

[90] A town in Bohemia famous for its mineral springs.

[91] About fifty thousand pounds sterling.

[92] Private memoirs of Bassowitz, Jan. 21, 1712.

[93] A town of Sleswic, in Denmark, situated on the river Eyder, fourteen miles from the German Ocean, having a very commodious harbour.

[94] About twelve hundred pounds sterling.

[95] In the preamble to this institution, the czar declared, that it was to perpetuate the memory of her love in his distressed condition on the banks of the river Pruth. He invested her with full power to bestow it on such of her own sex as she should think proper. The ensigns of this order are, a broad white riband, and wore over the right shoulder, with a medal of St. Catherine, adorned with precious stones, and the motto, 'Out of love and fidelity.'

[96] Inhabitants of a small town of Hungarian Dalmatia, with a harbour, from whence the neighbouring sea takes the name of Golfo di Bickariga.

[97] The conspiracy carried on in France by cardinal Alberoni, was discovered in a very singular manner. The Spanish ambassador's secretary, who used frequently to go to the house of one La Follon, a famous procuress of Paris, to amuse himself for an hour or two after the fatigues of business, had appointed a young nymph, whom he was fond of, to meet him there at nine o'clock in the evening, but did not come to her till near two o'clock in the morning. The lady, as may be supposed, reproached him with the little regard he paid to her charms, or his own promise; but he excused himself, by saying, that he had been obliged to stay to finish a long dispatch in ciphers, which was to be sent away that very night by a courier to Spain: so saying, he undressed and threw himself into bed, where he quietly fell asleep. In pulling off his clothes, he had, by accident, dropped a paper out of his pocket, which, by its bulk, raised in the nymph that curiosity so natural to her sex. She picked it up, and read it partly over, when the nature of its contents made her resolve to communicate them to La Follon: accordingly, she framed some excuse for leaving the room, and immediately went to the apartment of the old lady, and opened her budget. La Follon, who was a woman of superior understanding to most in her sphere, immediately saw the whole consequence of the affair; and, after having recommended to the girl, to amuse her gallant as long as possible, she immediately went to waken the regent, to whom she had access at all hours, for matters of a very different nature to the present. This prince, whose presence of mind was equal to every exigency, immediately dispatched different couriers to the frontiers; in consequence of which, the Spanish ambassador's messenger was stopped at Bayonne, and his dispatches taken from him; upon deciphering of which, they were found exactly to agree with the original delivered to the regent by La Follon: upon this the prince of Cellamar, the Spanish ambassador was put under an arrest, and all his papers seized; after which he was sent under a strong guard to the frontiers, where they left him to make the best of his way to his own country. Thus an event, which would have brought the kingdom of France to the verge of destruction, was frustrated by a votary of Venus, and a priestess of the temple of pleasure.

[98] As these letters and answers afford the most striking evidence of the czar's prudence, and the prince's insincerity, and will convey to the reader a clear idea of the grounds and motives of this extraordinary transaction, we have inserted the following translation of them. The first letter from the czar to his son, is dated the 27th of October, 1715, and displays a noble spirit of religion, with the most ardent desire of leaving a successor who should perpetuate his name and glory to future ages.

'Son,' says the czar to him, 'you cannot be ignorant of what is known to all the world, that our people groaned under the oppression of the Swedes, before the beginning of this present war. By the usurped possession of many of our maritime ports, so necessary to our state, they cut us off from all commerce with the rest of mankind; and we saw, with deep regret, that they had even cast a mist over the eyes of persons of the greatest discernment, who tamely brooked their slavery, and made no complaints to us. You know how much it cost us at the beginning of this war, to make ourselves thoroughly experienced, and to stand our ground in spite of all the advantages which our irreconcileable enemies gained over us. The Almighty alone has conducted us by his hand, and conducts us still. We submitted to that probationary state with resignation to the will of God, not doubting but it was he who made us pass through it: he has accepted our submission; and the same enemy, before whom we were wont to tremble, now trembles before us. These are effects, which, under God's assistance, we owe to our labour, and those of our faithful and affectionate sons, and Russian subjects. But while I survey the successes with which God has blessed our arms, if I turn my eyes on the posterity that is to succeed me, my soul is pierced with anguish; and I have no enjoyment of my present happiness, when I carry my views into futurity. All my felicity vanishes away like a dream, since you, my son, reject all means of rendering yourself capable of governing well after me. Your incapacity is voluntary; for you cannot excuse yourself from want of genius: it is inclination alone you want. Far less can you plead the want of bodily strength, as if God had not furnished you sufficiently in that respect: for though your constitution be none the strongest, it cannot be reckoned weak. Yet you will not so much as hear of warlike exercises; though it is by those means we are risen from that obscurity in which we were buried, and have made ourselves known to the nations about us, whose esteem we now enjoy. I am far from desiring you to cherish in yourself a disposition to make war for its own sake, and without just reasons: all I demand of you is, that you would apply yourself to learn the military art; because, without understanding the rules of war, it is impossible to be qualified for government. I might set before your eyes many examples of what I propose to you; but shall only mention the Greeks, with whom we are united by the same profession of faith. Whence came the declension of their empire, but from the neglect of arms? Sloth and inaction have subjected them to tyrants, and that slavery under which they have groaned. You are much mistaken if you imagine it is enough for a prince that he have good generals to act under his orders: no, my son, it is upon the chief himself that the eyes of the world are fixed; they study his inclinations, and easily slide into the imitation of his manners. My brother, during his reign, loved magnificence in dress, and splendid equipages, and horses richly caparisoned; the taste of this country was not much formed that way; but the pleasures of the prince soon became those of the subjects, who are readily led to imitate him both in the objects of his love and disgust. If people are so easily disengaged from things that are only for pleasure, will they not be still more prone to forget, and in process of time wholly to lay aside the use of arms, the exercise of which grows the more irksome the less they are habituated to them? You have no inclination to learn the profession of war; you do not apply yourself to it; and consequently will never know it. How then will you be able to command others, and to judge of the rewards which those subjects deserve who do their duty, or of the punishment due to such as fall short of obedience? You must judge only by other people's eyes; and will be considered as a young bird, which reaching out its beak, is as ready to receive poison as proper nourishment. You say, the infirm state of your health makes you unfit to bear the fatigues of war; but that is a frivolous excuse. I desire you not to undergo the fatigues of that profession, though it is there that all great captains are begun; but I wish you had an inclination to the military art; and reason may give it you, if you have it not from nature. Had you once this inclination, it would occupy your thoughts at all times, even in your hours of sickness. Ask those who remember my brother's reign: his state of health was much more infirm than your's; he could not manage a horse of never so little mettle, nor hardly mount him: yet he loved horses, and perhaps there never will be in the country finer stables than his. Hence you see, that success does not always depend upon personal labour, but upon the inclination. If you think that there are princes, whose affairs fail not to succeed, though they go not to war in person, you are in the right; but if they go not to the field of battle, they have, however, an inclination to go, and are acquainted with the military art. For instance, the late king of France did not always take the field himself; but we know to what a degree he was a lover of war, and how many glorious exploits he performed therein; which made his campaigns be called the theatre and school of the world. The bent of that prince's mind was not turned to military affairs only, he had also a taste for the polite arts, for manufactures, and other institutions, which have made his kingdom more flourishing than any other. After all these remonstrances which I have laid before you, I return to my first subject, which immediately concerns yourself. I am a man, and consequently must die: to whom shall I leave the care of finishing what, by God's grace, I have begun, and of preserving what I have in part recovered? To a son who, like that slothful servant in the gospel, buries his talent in the earth, and neglects to improve what God has committed to his trust? How often have I reproached you for your sullenness and indocility? I have been obliged to chastise you on that account. For these several years past I have hardly spoke to you, because I almost despair of bringing you back to the right way; discouraged and disheartened by the fruitlessness of all my endeavours. You loiter on in supine indolence; abandoning yourself to shameful pleasures, without extending your foresight to the dangerous consequences which such a conduct must produce both to yourself and the whole state: you confine yourself to the government of your own house, and in that station you acquit yourself very ill; St. Paul has told us, 'he that knows not how to govern his own house, how shall he be able to rule the church of God?' In like manner I say to you, since you know not how to manage your domestic affairs, how can you be able to govern a kingdom? I am determined, at last, to signify to you my final purpose; being willing, however, to defer the execution of it for a short time, to see if you will reform: if not, know that I am resolved to deprive you of the succession, as I would lop off a useless branch. Do not imagine, that because I have no other child but you,[99] I mean by this only to intimidate you: I will most certainly execute my resolution; and God requires it of me: for, since I spare not my own life for the sake of my country, and the welfare of my people, why should I allow an effeminate prince to ascend the throne after me, who would sacrifice the interest of the subject to his pleasures? and should he be obliged to expose his life in their behalf, would leave them to perish, rather than redress their grievances. I will call in a mere stranger to the crown, if he be but worthy of that honour, sooner than my own son, if he is unworthy.

'PETER.'

To this letter the czarowitz replied: 'Most gracious sovereign and father, I have read the letter which your majesty sent me of the 27th of October, 1715, after the interment of my wife; and all the answer I can make to it is, that if your majesty is determined to deprive me of the succession to the crown of Russia, on account of my inability, your will be done. I even request it of you very earnestly; because I judge not myself fit for government. My memory is greatly impaired; and without memory there is no managing affairs. The powers both of my body and mind are much weakened by the diseases to which I have been incident, and I am thereby incapacitated for the rule of so great a people. Such a charge requires a man far more vigorous than I am. For these reasons I am not ambitious to succeed you (whom God preserve through a length of years) in the crown of Russia, even though I had no brother, as I have one at present, whom God long preserve. As little will I for the future set up any claim to the succession: to the truth of which I solemnly swear, taking God to be my witness; and in testimony thereof I write and sign these presents. I put my children into your hands: and for myself I ask no more of you than a bare maintenance during my life, leaving the whole to your pleasure.

'Your humble servant and son,

'ALEXIS.'

Peter soon penetrated through the disguise his son had assumed, and therefore wrote him the above letter, dated January 19, 1716, and which he called his 'Last Admonition.'

[99] This letter was written about eight days before the birth of Peter Patrowitz, the czar's second son.

[100] This letter was couched in the following terms:--'Most gracious sovereign and father, yesterday morning I received your letter, of the 19th of this month: my indisposition hinders me from writing to you at large, but I am willing to embrace the monastic state, and I beg your gracious consent thereto.

'Your servant, and unworthy son,

'ALEXIS.'

[101] The prince's renunciation was couched in the following terms:--'I, the undernamed, declare upon the holy gospel, that on account of the crimes I have committed against his czarish majesty, my father and sovereign, as set forth in his manifesto, I am, through my own fault, excluded from the throne of Russia. Therefore I confess and acknowledge that exclusion to be just, as having merited it by my own fault and unworthiness; and I hereby oblige myself, and swear in the presence of Almighty God, in unity of nature, and trinity of persons, as my supreme Judge, to submit in all things to my father's will, never to set up a claim or pretension to the succession, or accept of it under any pretext whatever, acknowledging my brother Peter Petrowitz as lawful successor to the crown. In testimony whereof, I kiss the holy cross, and sign these presents with my own hand.

'ALEXIS.'

[102] As this extraordinary piece cannot fail of being interesting to most part of our readers, we have ventured to subjoin the whole of it in a note, our author having only given some few extracts.

_The Czar's Declaration._

Peter I. by the grace of God, czar, emperor of Russia, &c. to all our faithful subjects, ecclesiastical, military, and civil, of all the states of the Russian nation. It is notorious, and well known to the greatest part of our faithful subjects, and chiefly to those who live in the places of our residence, or who are in our service, with how much care and application we have caused our eldest son Alexis to be brought up and educated; having given him for that purpose, from his infancy, tutors to teach him the Russian tongue, and foreign languages, and to instruct him in all arts and sciences, in order not only to bring him up in our Christian orthodox faith of the Greek profession, but also in the knowledge of political and military affairs, and likewise in the constitution of foreign countries, their customs and languages; through the reading of history, and other books, in all manner of sciences, becoming a prince of his high rank, he might acquire the qualifications worthy of a successor to our throne of Great Russia. Nevertheless, we have seen with grief, that all attention and care, for the education and instruction of our son, proved ineffectual and useless, seeing he always swerved from his filial obedience, shewing no application for what was becoming a worthy successor, and slighting the precepts of the masters we had appointed for him; but, on the contrary, frequenting disorderly persons, from whom he could learn nothing good, or that would be advantageous and useful to him. We have not neglected often to endeavour to reclaim, and bring him back to his duty, sometimes by caresses and gentle means, sometimes by reprimands, sometimes by paternal corrections. We have more than once taken him with us into our army and the field, that he might be instructed in the art of war, as one of the chief sciences for the defence of his country; guarding him, at the same time, from all hazard of the succession, though we exposed ourself to manifest perils and dangers. We have at other times left him at Moscow, putting into his hands a sort of regency in the empire, in order to form him in the art of government, and that he might learn how to reign after us. We have likewise sent him into foreign countries, in hopes and expectation, that seeing, in his travels, governments so well regulated, this would excite in him some emulation and an inclination to apply himself to do well. But all our care has been fruitless, and like the seed of the doctrine fallen upon a rock; for he has not only refused to follow that which is good, but even is come to hate it, without shewing any inclination, or disposition, either for military or political affairs; hourly and continually conversing with base and disorderly persons, whose morals are rude and abominable. As we were resolved to endeavour, by all imaginable means, to reclaim him from that disorderly course, and to inspire him with an inclination to converse with persons of virtue and honour; we exhorted him to choose a consort among the chief foreign houses, as is usual in other countries, and hath been practised by our ancestors, the czars of Russia, who have contracted alliances by marriages with other sovereign houses, and we have left him at liberty to make a choice. He declared his inclination for the princess, grand-daughter of the duke of Wolfenbuttle, then reigning, sister-in-law to his imperial majesty the emperor of the Romans, now reigning, and cousin to the king of Great Britain; and having desired us to procure him that alliance, and permit him to marry that princess, we readily consented thereunto, without any regard to the great expense which was necessarily occasioned by that marriage: but, after its consummation, we found ourselves disappointed of the hopes we had, that the change in the condition of our son would produce good fruits, and change his bad inclinations; for, notwithstanding his spouse was, as far as we have been able to observe, a wise, sprightly princess, and of a virtuous conduct, and that he himself had chosen her, he nevertheless lived with her in the greatest disunion, while he redoubled his affection for lewd people, bringing thereby a disgrace upon our house in the eyes of foreign powers to whom that princess was related, which drew upon us many complaints and reproaches. Our frequent advices and exhortations to him, to reform his conduct, proved ineffectual, and he at last violated the conjugal faith, and gave his affection to a prostitute of the most servile and low condition, living publicly in that crime with her, to the great contempt of his lawful spouse, who soon after died; and it was believed that her grief, occasioned by the disorderly life of her husband, hastened the end of her days. When we saw his resolution to persevere in his vicious courses, we declared to him, at the funeral of his consort, that if he did not for the future conform to our will, and apply himself to things becoming a prince, presumptive heir to so great an empire, we would deprive him of the succession, without any regard to his being our only son (our second son was not then born) and that he ought not to rely upon his being such, because we would rather choose for our successor a stranger worthy thereof, than an unworthy son; that we would not leave our empire to such a successor, who would ruin and destroy what we have, by God's assistance, established, and tarnish the glory and honour of the Russian nation, for the acquiring of which we had sacrificed our ease and our health, and willingly exposed our life on several occasions; besides, that the fear of God's judgment would not permit us to leave the government of such vast territories in the hands of one whose insufficiency and unworthiness we were not ignorant of. In short, we exhorted him in the most pressing terms we could make use of, to behave himself with discretion, and gave him time to repent and return to his duty. His answer to these remonstrances was, that he acknowledged himself guilty in all these points; but alleged the weakness of his parts and genius, which did not permit him to apply himself to the sciences, and other functions recommended to him: he owned himself incapable of our succession, and desired us to discharge him from the same. Nevertheless, we continued to exhort him with a paternal affection, and joining menaces to our exhortations; we forgot nothing to bring him back to the right way. The operations of the war having obliged us to repair to Denmark, we left him at Petersburg, to give him time to return to his duty, and amend his ways; and, afterwards, upon the repeated advices we received of the continuance of his disorderly life, we sent him orders to come to us at Copenhagen, to make the campaign, that he might thereby the better form himself. But, forgetting the fear and commandments of God, who enjoins obedience even to private parents, and much more to those who are at the same time sovereigns, our paternal cares had no other return than unheard-of ingratitude; for, instead of coming to us as we ordered, he withdrew, with large sums of money, and his infamous concubine, with whom he continued to live in a criminal course, and put himself under the protection of the emperor, raising against us, his father and his lord, numberless calumnies and false reports, as if we did persecute him, and intended, without cause, to deprive him of the succession; alleging, moreover, that even his life was not safe if he continued with us, and desired the emperor not only to give him refuge in his dominions, but also to protect him against us by force of arms. Every one may judge, what shame and dishonour this conduct of our son hath drawn upon us and our empire, in the face of the whole world; the like instance is hardly to be found in history. The emperor, though informed of his excesses, and how he had lived with his consort, sister-in-law to his imperial majesty, thought fit, however, upon these pressing instances, to appoint him a place where he might reside; and he desired farther, that he might be so private there, that we might not come to the knowledge of it. Meanwhile his long stay having made us fear, out of a tender and fatherly affection for him, that some misfortune had befallen him, we sent persons several ways to get intelligence of him, and, after a great deal of trouble, we were at last informed by the captain of our guard, Alexander Romanzoff, that he was privately kept in an imperial fortress at Tyrol; whereupon we wrote a letter, with our own hand, to the emperor, to desire that he might be sent back to us: but, notwithstanding the emperor acquainted him with our demands, and exhorted him to return to us, and submit to our will, as being his father and lord; yet he alleged, with a great many calumnies against us, that he ought not to be delivered into our hands, as if we had been his enemy, and a tyrant, from whom he had nothing to expect but death. In short, he persuaded his imperial majesty, instead of sending him back at that time to us, to remove him to some remote place in his dominions, namely, Naples in Italy, and keep him there secretly in the castle, under a borrowed name. Nevertheless, we having notice of the place where he was, did thereupon dispatch to the emperor our privy-counsellor, Peter Tolstoy, and the captain of our guard, aforesaid, with a most pressing letter, representing how unjust it would be to detain our son, contrary to all laws, divine and human, according to which private parents, and with much more reason those who are besides invested with a sovereign authority as we are, have an unlimited power over their children, independently of any other judge; and we set forth on one side, the just and affectionate manner with which we had always used our son, and, on the other, his disobedience; representing, in the conclusion, the ill consequences and animosities which the refusal of delivering up our son to us might occasion, because we would not leave this affair in that condition. We, at the same time, ordered those we sent with that letter, to make verbal remonstrances even in more pressing terms, and to declare that we should be obliged to revenge, by all possible methods, such detaining our son. We wrote likewise a letter to him with our own hand, to represent to him the horror and impiety of his conduct, and the enormity of the crime he had committed against us his father, and how God threatened in his laws to punish disobedient children with eternal death: we threatened him, as a father, with our curses, and, as his lord, to declare him a traitor to his country, unless he returned, and obeyed our commands; and gave him assurance, that if he did as we desired, and returned, we would pardon his crime. Our envoys, after many solicitations, and the above representation, made by us in writing, at last obtained leave of the emperor to go and speak to our son, in order to dispose him to return home. The imperial minister gave them at the same time to understand, that our son had informed the emperor that we persecuted him, and that his life was not safe with us, whereby he moved the emperor's compassion, and induced him to take him into his protection; but that the emperor, taking now into his consideration our true and solid representations, promised to use his utmost endeavour to dispose him to return to us; and would, moreover, declare to him, that he could not in justice and equity refuse to deliver him to his father, or have any difference with us on that account. Our envoys, upon their arrival at Naples, having desired to deliver to him our letter, written with our hand, sent us word, that he did refuse to admit them; but that the emperor's viceroy had found means, by inviting him to his house, to present them to him afterwards, much against his will. He did then, indeed, receive our letter, containing our paternal exhortation, and threatening our curse, but without shewing the least inclination to return; alleging still a great many falsities and calumnies against us, as if, by reason of several dangers he had to apprehend from us, he could not, nor would not return; and boasting, that the emperor had not only promised to defend and protect him against us, but even to set him upon the throne of Russia against our will, by force of arms. Our envoys perceiving this evil disposition, tried all imaginable ways to prevail with him to return, they intreated him, they expatiated by turns upon the graciousness of our assurances towards him, and upon our threats in case of disobedience, and that we would even bring him away by force of arms; they declared to him that the emperor would not enter into a war with us on his account, and many other such-like representations did they make to him. But he paid no regard to all this, nor shewed any inclination to return to us, until the imperial viceroy, convinced at last of his obstinacy, told him in the emperor's name, that he ought to return; for that his imperial majesty could not by any law keep him from us, nor, during the present war with Turkey, and also in Italy with Spain, embroil himself with us upon his account. When he saw how the case stood, fearing he should be delivered up to us, whether he would or not, he at length resolved to return home; and declared his mind to our envoys, and to the imperial viceroy: he likewise wrote the same thing to us, acknowledging himself to be a criminal, and blameworthy. Now although our son, by so long a course of criminal disobedience against us, his father and lord, for many years, and particularly for the dishonour he hath cast upon us in the face of the world, by withdrawing himself, and raising calumnies against us, as if we were an unnatural father, and for opposing his sovereign, hath deserved to be punished with death; yet our paternal affection inclines us to have mercy upon him, and we therefore pardon his crimes, and exempt him from all punishment for the same. But considering his unworthiness, we cannot in conscience, leave him after us the succession to the throne of Russia; foreseeing that, by his vicious courses, he would entirely destroy the glory of our nation and the safety of our dominions, which, through God's assistance, we have acquired and established by incessant application; for it is notorious and known to every one, how much it hath cost us, and with what efforts we have not only recovered the provinces which the enemy had usurped from our empire, but also conquered several considerable towns and countries, and with what care we have caused our people to be instructed in all sorts of civil and military sciences, to the glory and advantage of the nation and empire. Now, as we should pity our states and faithful subjects, if, by such a successor, we should throw them back into a much worse condition than ever they were yet; so, by the paternal authority, in virtue of which, by the laws of our empire, any of our subjects may disinherit a son, and give his succession to such other of his sons, as he pleases; and, in quality of sovereign prince, in consideration of the safety of our dominions, we do deprive our said son Alexis, for his crimes and unworthiness, of the succession after us to the throne of Russia, even though there should not remain one single person of our family after us. And we do constitute and declare successor to the said throne after us, our second son Peter, though yet very young, having no successor that is older. We lay upon our said son Alexis our paternal curse, if ever at any time he pretends to, or reclaims, the said succession; and we desire our faithful subjects, whether ecclesiastics or seculars, of all ranks and conditions, and the whole Russian nation, in conformity to this constitution and our will, to acknowledge and consider our said son Peter, appointed by our constitution, to confirm the whole by oath, before the holy altar, upon the holy gospel, kissing the cross; and all those who shall ever, at any time, oppose this our will, and who, from this day forward, shall dare to consider our son Alexis, as successor, or to assist him for that purpose, declare them traitors to us and their country. And we have ordered that these presents shall be every where published and promulgated, to the end that no person may pretend ignorance.--Given at Moscow, the third of February, 1718. Signed with our hand, and sealed with our seal.

'PETER.'

[103] This was the son of the empress Catherine, who died April 15, 1719.

[104] At the same time confirming it by an oath, the form of which was as follows: 'I swear before Almighty God, and upon his holy gospel, that whereas our most gracious sovereign, the czar Peter Alexiowitz, has caused circular letters to be published through his empire, to notify that he has thought fit to exclude his son, prince Alexis Petrowitz, from the throne of Russia, and to appoint for his successor to the crown his second son, the prince royal Peter Petrowitz; I do acknowledge this order and regulation made by his majesty in favour of the said prince Peter Petrowitz, to be just and lawful, and entirely conform and submit myself to the same; promising always to acknowledge the said prince royal Peter Petrowitz for his lawful successor, and to stand by him on all occasions, even to the loss of my life, against all such as shall presume to oppose the said succession; and that I never will, on any pretence whatsoever assist the prince Alexis Petrowitz, nor in any manner whatsoever contribute to procure him the succession. And this I solemnly promise by my oath on the holy gospel, kissing the holy cross thereupon.'

[105] His declaration to the clergy concluded in this manner:--'Though this affair does not fall within the verge of the spiritual, but of the civil jurisdiction, and we have this day referred it to the imperial decision of the secular court, but remembering that passage in the word of God, which requires us on such occasions to consult the priests and elders of the church, in order to know the will of Heaven, and being desirous of receiving all possible instructions in a matter of such importance, we desire of you, the archbishops, and the whole ecclesiastical state, as teachers of the word of God, not to pronounce judgment in this case, but to examine and give us your opinion concerning it, according to the sacred oracles, from whom we may be best informed what punishment my son deserves, and that you will give it us in writing under your hands, that being properly instructed herein, we may lay no burthen on our conscience. We therefore repose our confidence in you, that, as guardians of the divine laws, as faithful pastors of the Christian flock, and as well affected towards your country, you will act suitable to your dignity, conjuring you by that dignity, and the holiness of your function, to proceed without fear or dissimulation.

[106] Besides the particular passages in holy writ cited on this occasion, which were, Levit. xx. 1, 9. Deut. xxxi. Matt. xx. 1. Mark vii. 9. Rom. i. 28. Ephes vi. 1. those from the constitutions of the empire were as follows: 'If any person, by any ill design, forms any attempt against the health of the czar, or does any thing to his prejudice, and is found inclined to execute his pernicious designs, let him be put to death, after he is convicted thereof.' Stat. 1. 'In like manner, if any one, during the reign of his czarian majesty, through a desire to reign in the empire of Russia, and put the czar to death, shall begin to raise troops with this pernicious view; or if any one shall form an alliance with the enemies of his czarian majesty, or hold a correspondence with them, or assist them to arrive at the government, or raise any other disorder; if any one declare it, and the truth be found out upon such declaration, let the traitor suffer death upon conviction of the treason.' Stat. 2. From the military laws the following citations were made; chap. 3. art. 19. 'If any subject raises men, and takes up arms against the czarian majesty; or if any person forms a design of taking his majesty prisoner, or killing him; or if he offers any violence to him; he and all his abettors and adherents shall be quartered, as guilty of treason, and their goods confiscated.' To which article the following explanation was added: 'They also shall suffer the same punishment, who, though they have not been able to execute their crime, shall be convicted of inclination and desire to commit it; and likewise, those who shall not have discovered it when it came to their knowledge,' chap. 26. art. 37. 'He who forms a design of committing any treason, or any other matter of the like nature, shall be punished with the same capital punishments as if he had actually executed his design.'

[107] M. de Voltaire is mistaken in this point; for, by our laws, no peer of the realm can absent himself from the service of the parliament during its session, without the liberty of the king or the house.

[108] This is another mistake; for it is death by our law to compass or imagine the death of the sovereign.

[109] Or Nions, the capital of Montauban, in Dauphine, in France, situate on the river Aigues, over which is a bridge, said to be a Roman work.

[110] At twenty-four to the pound sterling.

[111] About three thousand pounds sterling.

[112] The czar celebrated this victory by a naval triumph at Petersburg, caused a gold medal to be struck to perpetuate the glory of the action, presented prince Galitzin with a sword set with diamonds, and distributed a large sum of money among the officers and sailors who had given such signal proofs of their valour.

[113] A little town of the Bothnick gulf in North Finland.

[114] Notwithstanding the great rejoicings made on this occasion, Peter was noways inattentive to the affairs of state; but held frequent councils thereon: and being desirous, as his son Peter Petrowitz was dead, to settle the succession on a prince who would follow his maxims, and prosecute the great designs which he had begun for civilizing his people, he ordered public notice to be given, on the 23d of February, to all his subjects inhabiting the city of Moscow, to repair the next day to Castle-church; which they having done, printed papers were delivered to them all, signifying, 'That it was his imperial majesty's pleasure, that every man should swear, and give under his hand, that he would not only approve the choice his majesty would make of a successor, but acknowledge the person he should appoint as emperor and sovereign.' An order was likewise published a few days after at Petersburg, requiring the magistrates and all persons to subscribe the same declaration; and all the grandees of the empire were commanded, on pain of death and confiscation, to repair to Moscow by the latter end of March for that purpose, except those inhabiting Astracan and Siberia, who, living at too great a distance, were excused from giving their personal attendance, and permitted to subscribe before their respective governors. This oath was readily taken by all ranks and degrees of the people, who were well assured that their emperor would make choice of one who was every way worthy of the succession, and capable of supporting the dignity intended for him: but they were still in the dark as to the identical person, though it was generally believed to be prince Nariskin, who was nearly related to the emperor, and allowed to have all the qualities requisite for his successor: but a little time shewed them, that this conjecture was groundless.

[115] These he published and distributed along the borders of the Caspian Sea, therein declaring--That he came not upon the frontiers of Persia, with an intention of reducing any of the provinces of that kingdom to his obedience, but only to maintain the lawful possessor of them on his throne, and to defend him powerfully, together with his faithful subjects, against the tyranny of Mir Mahmoud, and to obtain satisfaction from him and his Tartars, for the robberies and mischiefs which they had committed in the Russian empire.

[116] Memoirs of Bassewitz.

[117] MS. memoirs of count de Bassewitz.

[118] Catherine paid the last duties to her husband's ashes, with a pomp becoming the greatest monarch that Russia, or perhaps any other country, had ever known; and though there is no court of Europe where splendour and magnificence is carried to a greater height on these occasions than in that of Russia, yet it may with great truth be said, that she even surpassed herself in the funeral honours paid to her great Peter. She purchased the most precious kinds of marble, and employed some of the ablest sculptors of Italy to erect a mausoleum to this hero, which might, if possible, transmit the remembrance of his great actions to the most distant ages. Not satisfied with this, she caused a medal to be struck, worthy of the ancients. On one side was represented the bust of the late emperor, with these words--'_Peter the Great, Emperor and Sovereign of all Russia, born May 30, 1672_. On the reverse was the empress sitting, with the crown on her head, the globe and sceptre by her side on a table, and before her were a sphere, sea charts, plans, mathematical instruments, arms, and a caduceus. At distances, in three different places, were represented an edifice on the sea coast, with a platform before it, a ship and galley at sea, and the late emperor in the clouds, supported by eternity, looking on the empress, and shewing her with his right hand all the treasures he had left her, with these words, 'Behold what I have left you.' In the exergue, 'Deceased 28 January, 1725.' Several of these medals she ordered to be struck in gold, to the weight of fifty ducats and distributed among the foreign ministers, and all the grandees of the empire, as a testimony of her respect and gratitude to the memory of her late husband, to whose generosity she took a pleasure in owning herself indebted for her present elevated station.

Mottley gives us the following, as the czar's epitaph:

Here lieth,
All that could die of a man immortal,
PETER ALEXIOWITZ:
It is almost superfluous to add,
_Great Emperor of Russia!_
A title,
Which, instead of adding to his glory,
Became glorious by his wearing it.
Let antiquity be dumb,
Nor boast her Alexander, or her Cæsar.
How easy was victory
To leaders who were followed by heroes!
And whose soldiers felt a noble disdain
At being thought less vigilant than their generals!
But he,
Who in this place first knew rest,
Found subjects base and inactive,
Unwarlike, unlearned, untractable;
Neither covetous of fame, nor fearless of danger;
Creatures with the names of men,
But with qualities rather brutal than rational!
Yet, even these
He polished from their native ruggedness;
And, breaking out like a new sun,
To illuminate the minds of a people,
Dispelled their night of hereditary darkness;
And, by force of his invincible influence,
Taught them to conquer
Even the conquerors of Germany.
Other princes have commanded victorious armies;
This commander created them.
Blush, O Art! at a hero who owed thee nothing
Exult, O Nature! for thine was this prodigy.

[119] The distinguished regard which this princess shews for the arts and sciences, and her endeavours to attract the great geniuses of all nations to reside in her dominions, by every possible encouragement, affords the strongest presumptions, that in her reign we shall see a second age of Louis XIV. and of this we have had a recent proof, in the obliging letter which this august princess wrote with her own hand to M. d'Alembert, and the choice she has since made of M. Duplex, a member of the royal academy of sciences at Paris, when the beforementioned gentleman thought fit to decline the gracious offers she made him. In which choice she has shewn that it is not birth nor rank, but true merit and virtue, which she considers as the essential qualifications in a person to whom she would confide the most sacred of all trusts, that of the education of the grand duke, her son. What then may not be expected from the administration of a sovereign so superior to vulgar prejudice? And especially when assisted by a Woronzoff and a Galitzin, both the professed friends and patrons of literature and the fine arts, which they themselves have not disdained to cultivate, when business and the weighty affairs of state have allowed them a few moments leisure.

[120] The following anecdote, communicated by a nobleman of the strictest probity, who was himself an eye-witness of the fact, will give us a clear insight into the character and disposition of Peter I. In one of the many plots which was formed against the life and government of this monarch, there was among the number of those seized a soldier, belonging to his own regiment of guards. Peter being told by his officers that this man had always behaved extremely well, had a curiosity to see him, and learn from his own mouth what might have been his inducement to be concerned in a plot against him; and to this purpose he dressed himself in a plain garb, and so as not to be known by the man again, and went to the prison where he was confined, when, after some conversation, 'I should be glad to know, friend,' said Peter, 'what were your reasons for being concerned in an attempt against the emperor your master, as I am certain that he never did you any injury, but on the contrary, has a regard for you, as being a brave soldier, and one who have always done your duty in the field; and therefore, if you were to shew the least remorse for what you have done, I am persuaded that the emperor would forgive you: but before I interest myself in your behalf, you must tell me what motives you had to join the mutineers; and repeat to you again, that the emperor is naturally so good and compassionate, that I am certain he will give you your pardon.'

'I know little or nothing of the emperor,' replied the soldier, 'for I never saw him but at a distance; but he caused my father's head to be cut off some time ago, for being concerned in a former rebellion, and it is the duty of a son to revenge the death of his father, by that of the person who took away his life. If then the emperor is really so good and merciful as you have represented him, counsel him, for his own safety not to pardon me; for were he to restore me my liberty, the first use I should make of it would be, to engage in some new attempt against his life, nor should I ever rest till I had accomplished my design; therefore the securest method he can take, will be to order my head to be struck off immediately, without which his own life is not in safety.' The czar in vain used all the arguments he could think of, to set before this desperado the folly and injustice of such sentiments; he still persisted in what he had declared, and Peter departed, greatly chagrined at the bad success of his visit, and gave orders for the execution of this man and the rest of his accomplices.

Transcriber's notes:

The following is a list of changes made to the original.
The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.

of procelain, the court magazines, the foundery,
of porcelain, the court magazines, the foundery,

and brought martins and black foxes,
and brought martens and black foxes,

Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown 300
Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown 3000

dicipline by land: nay, the most common
discipline by land: nay, the most common

and encouragement on the part of a govornment;
and encouragement on the part of a government;

situated on the Driester, and subject to the Turks,
situated on the Dniester, and subject to the Turks,

in a word, he was worthy of being the father of
In a word, he was worthy of being the father of

to the empire, the reigns of which she intended
to the empire, the reins of which she intended

He led a retired life, and died in 1646.
He led a retired life, and died in 1696.

retook from Lewis XIV. in 1694. After this,
retook from Lewis XIV. in 1674. After this,

up the renegado, Jacob, to the conquerors.
up the renegade, Jacob, to the conquerors.

cruizing on the coast of Crim Tartary. The Ottoman
cruising on the coast of Crim Tartary. The Ottoman

Marshal Sheremeto, the general Gordons and Schein,
Marshal Sheremeto, the generals Gordon and Schein,

Accordingly, in the month of March 1677, he sent
Accordingly, in the month of March 1697, he sent

by king Willian with a spectacle worthy such a
by king William with a spectacle worthy such a

is signed, and they cad no longer go from their
is signed, and they can no longer go from their

This is speaking like the high-priest of depotism.
This is speaking like the high-priest of despotism.

he invited all the boyards, and principa lladies
he invited all the boyards, and principal ladies

gained a pitched battle, againsr an enemy who
gained a pitched battle, against an enemy who

ignorant of the place where these two princes where,
ignorant of the place where these two princes were,

gave up those Zoporavians who had engaged in
gave up those Zaporavians who had engaged in

prisoners. Is has been the custom of the
prisoners. It has been the custom of the

Demetrius Cantemir, was at this time Waiwod of Moldavia.
Demetrius Cantemir was at this time Waiwod of Moldavia.

perish with famine. other memoirs pretend, on
perish with famine. Other memoirs pretend, on

and six thousand six hundred and nine-two
and six thousand six hundred and ninety-two