Chapter XV

Thus Europe can, and ought, to be subdued.

PETER I.,

AUTOCRAT OF ALL THE RUSSIAS.

Lest the reader of this WILL may form an opinion antagonistic to its author, it may be well to state that while Peter the Great was a Despot he was also a Patriot—and while a Tyrant he was yet a Humanitarian. This man, who could icily command death by the knout was the same man who yielded up his own life in rescuing a sailor who had fallen overboard in the ice-laden waters of the Neva. And Peter was, above and beyond all, a Statesman, an Inventor, a finished Mechanic and Progenerator of the Russian Life-Saving Service.