484 



RUSSIA. 



15S4 



1598. 



Russia, ment with the Tartars, and died in the year 1584, 

 when his eldest son Pheodor, a weak prince, became 

 possessor of the throne. He had married the sister 

 of Boris Godunof, a man of great ambition, im- 

 mense riches, and considerable talents, and who 

 aimed at the imperial dignity, which he ultimately at- 

 tained. The young prince Dmitrii, only brother of 

 Pheodor, suddenly disappeared, and it is generally sup- 

 posed that he was assassinated by drder of Boris. 

 Pheodor soon afterwards died, in 1598; and it was 

 strongly' suspected that he had been poisoned by his 

 brother-in-law. With him ended the family of Rurik, 

 a dynasty which had possessed the sovereign power in 

 Russia ever since the establishment of the principality 

 by that Varagian chief. As there was now no here- 

 ditary successor to the vacant throne, by the artifice 

 and intrigues of his partisans, Boris Godunof, succeed- 

 ed in his place of being elected tsar ; an honour of 

 which he proved himself not unworthy, if we could 

 overlook the means by which he ascended the throne. 

 In every way he endeavoured to advance the interests 

 of his nation, and to improve the state of his people, 

 as by the extension of commerce, and the encourage- 

 ment of arts and sciences and manufactures. He made 

 himself respected abroad, and received ambassadors 

 from almost all the powers of Europe, and concluded 

 an advantageous alliance with Sweden. His reign, 

 however, was rendered unhappy by one of the most 

 dreadful famines on record, and by the successful ope- 

 rations of Otrepief, a monk, who represented himself 

 as the murdered Dmitrii, the son of the late tsar, and 

 the heir of the crown. Boris, unable to resist the tor- 

 rent of public opinion in favour of his rival, is said to 

 have taken poison, which caused his death in the year 

 1605. Though his son Pheodor was placed upon the 

 throne by the principal nobility, yet the party of the 

 false Dmilrii, as he is generally called, was so strong, 

 that the new tsar was dethroned, within six weeks af- 

 ter his accession, and with his mother and sister was 

 sent to prison. 



Otrepief had now attained the summit of his ambi- 

 tious hopes, and made his entry into Moscow with the 

 utmost magnificence, attended by his Russian adherents 

 and his Polish friends. He is said to have caused the 

 death of the dethroned Pheodor, as well as that of his 

 sister by strangulation. The new tsar, though he pos- 

 sessed abilities, lost the hearts of the Russians by his 

 extreme imprudence, and at length turned them against 

 him. The populace, incensed by the clergy, declaim- 

 ed against Dmitrii as an heretic, and Shuiskii, a noble- 

 man, who had been condemned to death by the tsar, 

 but had afterwards been pardoned, put himself at the 

 head of the enraged mob, and attacked the tsar's pa- 

 lace.- Dmitrii, as well as his closest adherents, 

 were killed. By interest, cunning, and intrigue, Vas- 

 silii Shuiskii secured his election, as the Russian histo- 

 rians affect to call it, to the vacant throne. His reign 

 was short, uninteresting, and greatly disturbed by 

 factions, and by the pretensions of other two factitious 

 Dmitriis, who successively declared themselves to be 

 either the late tsar, or the prince whom he had caused 

 to be assassinated. While the country was in con- 

 fusion, and quite distracted, Russia v/as invaded by 

 the Poles, who deposed Shuiskii, made him prisoner, 

 and sent him to Poland, where he died in the year 

 1612. His fate excited little regret, because of the 

 false part he had acted toward Otrepief, who had saved 

 his life, although himself an usurper. 



1605. 



1606. 



1G10-13. 



The state of Russia at the beginning of the seven- 

 teenth century, was at first most melancholy, but after- 

 wards most glorious. One usurper followed another. 

 Shuiskii was deposed and a prisoner; Moscow, without 

 a sovereign, was pillaged, and occupied by the Poles ; 

 the great Novgorod was seized by the Swedes ; and 

 the whole kingdom was in a state of anarchy and con- 

 fusion. Nothing seemed to be anticipated but the final 

 partition, or the entire annihilation of the empire, when 

 suddenly and unexpectedly her liberators appeared. 

 Kozma Minin, a butcher of Nijnii- Novgorod, roused 

 by the highest patriotism, resolved to deliver his coun- 

 try from her enemies, or to sacrifice his all in the at- 

 tempt. He inspired his countrymen with the same 

 sentiments, who immediately contributed their pro- 

 perty to bear the general charge, or act for the ge- 

 neral good. The old gave their benediction to 

 the young; wives received the oaths of their hus- 

 bands and children to conquer or die for their coun- 

 try ; females, old and young, divested themselves 

 of "their ornaments, their pearls, and precious stones ; 

 and the citizens transported their most valuable effects 

 to a general depot. Prince Pojarskii, who had distin- 

 guished himself during the reign of the Tsar Shuiskii, 

 was chosen as commander of numerous troops, which 

 were rapidly assembled. He conducted them to Mos- 

 cow, vanquished the Poles, in various engagements, 

 and liberated Russia from the thraldom, of her enemies. 

 A splendid monument has been lately erected at Mos- 

 cow by the Emperor Alexander, in commemoration of 

 these heroic achievements, on which is the following 

 inscription : fl To citizen Minin and Prince Pojarskii, 

 grateful Russia, 1818." Of the events of this disturb- 

 ed period, a minute account is given by Dr. Lyall, 

 whose work contains a view of the said monu- 

 ment. * 



Though there had been divisions among the nobles 

 as to the choice of a sovereign, especially whether they 

 should have a Polish or a Swedish prince, the most 

 powerful party were desirous of elevating to the throne 

 a native Russian, a distant relation of the ancient fami- 

 ly of the Tsars, whose father Philaretes, was metropo- 

 litan of Rostdf. This young no'ule at first declined the 

 high destiny, but at length ascended the throne, Avitb. 

 almost general consent, and was the first of the present 

 family and dynasty, Romanof, whose descendants 

 have raised the empire to a state of grandeur and im- 

 portance unequalled in any former period. 



Assisted by the sage councils of his venerable fathe^, 

 Michail Phoedorovitch, he avoided those disasters which 

 had overwhelmed his immediate predecessors, and ac- 

 quired the affection and love of his subjects. He form- 

 ed useful treaties of alliance with the principal com- 

 mercial states of Europe. His reign of thirty-two 

 years was prosperous for his country and glorious to 

 himself. Under his sway Russia acquired a hitherto un- 

 known importance in the scale of nations. At his death 

 in 1645 or l646, he was succeeded by one of the 

 most distinguished princes of the present dynasty, the 

 Tsar, Alexei Michailovitch, who was only fifteen years Alexei 

 of age. Morosof, a nobleman of consequence, had Michailo- 

 been appointed his governor and regent of the empire ; vitch. 

 but by neglecting his duties, he became very unpopu- 

 lar, and, but for the special entreaty of the Tsar, he 

 would have fallen a sacrifice to the rage of the multi- 

 tude. Alexei increased and strengthened the empire, 

 by introducing a more regular discipline into the army, 

 and by revising, amending, and new-modelling the 



1C tO. 



Character of the Russians, p. 296 305. 



