^18 Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas- 



litical relations with the other potentates. An imprudent divi- 

 sion gave rise to discord in their states, their best provinces were 

 conquered by the Poles, and they themselves became tributary 

 to the Tartars for three centuries. They at length cast off this 

 yoke, and became conquerors in their turn ; but, during their 

 subjection, literature and civilization had reappeared in Europe, 

 and Russia, at hey restoration to freedom, found herself a.X an 

 immense distance behind the other christian states. The first 

 English who landed there, in the sixteenth century, considered 

 it almost as a new discovery. Peter the Great made astonishing 

 efforts to introduce into it the customs and knowledge of Europe. 

 After passing through all the ranks, to habituate his great no- 

 bles to military subordination, after working as a carpenter, in 

 order to form a marine, he wished to be admitted as a member 

 of the Academy of Science of Paris, for the purpose of inspiring 

 his people with a taste for instruction ; but, in the accomplish- 

 ment of these objects, his success was not equal : The army was 

 promptly subjected to the German mode of discipline ; the covirt 

 quickly assumed the French manners ; while, to have an aca- 

 demy, it was necessary to bring its members entirely from other 

 countries, and to keep it up for a long time by recruits from 

 them. 



Germany, where the numerous cities and universities pro- 

 duced in some measure a superabundance of instruction, con- 

 stantly supplied these deficiencies, and many of her most illus- 

 trious literati found in Russia a fortune, and means of prosec^v- 

 ting their favourite pursuits, which, perhaps, they could not 

 have enjoyed in their own country. It was thus that Bernoulli, 

 Bayer, Euler, Gmelin, Miiller, Amman, I.owitz, Duvernoy, 

 gave to Europe that beautiful series of labours, under the titk 

 of the Memoirs of the Academy of Petersburg ; it was thus that 

 they laid open to us, in all its relations, the immense territory of 

 Russia, and, it may be said, made it known to the Russian Go- 

 vernment itself. 



In fact, no sooner had the Grand Dukes of Russia obtained 

 possession of the throne and title of the Czars of Tartary, tibeir 

 ancient sovereigns, than some enterprising adventurers pushed 

 their way toward the East. The most prudent settled among 

 the mountains rich in ores of every description, which form the 



