486 



RUSSIA. 



Russia, portant blunders in all these capacities. He did not 



N ""Y- > "*' civilize his people, as is generally stated ; but he laid, 

 or extended widely, the basis of their civilization. Upon 

 this basis a structure has been gradually rearing, which, 

 it is to be hoped, will continue to prosper through a 

 succession of reigns, until the demi-civilized inhabi- 

 tants of the north shall be entitled to rank with the 

 other states of Europe. He formed a navy in his em- 

 pire ; re-organized an army ; promulgated useful laws ; 

 protected, and, to a certain extent, purified the religion 

 of his country; introduced and fostered arts and sci- 

 ences, and literature ; and he ardently and successfully 

 promoted the general improvement of Russia. He 

 founded Petersburgh, and made it his residence, and 

 the capital. He extended the commerce of his empire, 

 and gave every encouragement to trade and manufac- 

 tures. He made canals, repaired roads, instituted 

 regular posts, and gave regulations for a uniformity of 

 weights and measures. Therefore, as a monarch, he 

 claims our admiration, and with regret we turn to his 

 character as a private individual. His tyranny and 

 cruelty admit of no excuse. The extraordinary sacri- 

 fice of his son has been much admired, and we believe 

 still more censured, because his reasons for such an 

 act do not appear sufficiently valid, though sanctioned 

 by a trial, or the form of a trial. 



Catharine i. Peter was succeeded by his consort Catharine I. who 

 1725. had previously shown herself worthy of the imperial 

 throne. During the reign of her spouse, she was dis- 

 tinguished as a woman of a dignified arid noble cha- 

 racter. After she ascended the throne, she prosecuted, 

 with vigour and prudence, the plans commenced by 

 Peter the Great. Her short reign of two years was 

 characterized by forbearance and mercy. Peter the 

 Great's grandson, Peter II. when only twelve years of 

 age, succeeded Catharine. His reign of three years 

 duration was more distinguished by court intrigue than 

 interesting events. He died of the small-pox, when 

 on the eve of his marriage in 1730. During the latter 

 part of his reign he held his court at Moscow, a mea- 

 sure which gave great satisfaction to the nobles. 



The male issue of Peter being now extinct, the Duke 

 of Holstein, son to Peter's oldest daughter, by the de- 

 claration of the late empress, was entitled to the crown ; 

 but the Russians, for political reasons, filled the throne 

 with Ann duchess of Courland, second daughter to 

 Ivan, Peter's eldest brother. Her reign was extreme- 

 ly prosperous, and though she accepted the crown un- 

 der limitations that were thought derogatory to her 

 dignity, yet she broke through them all, and asserted 

 the prerogatives of her ancestors. She was governed 

 by her favourite Biron, whom she raised to the duchy 

 of Courland. She had considerable influence in the 

 affairs of Poland ; she narrowly escaped a war with 

 France ; she ceded the territories on the shores of 

 the Caspian, which had been seized by Peter the 

 Great, in consideration of some privileges granted to 

 the Russian merchants ; she maintained a war against 

 the Turks, and, after one army had been severely beat 

 in the Krimea, she sent new forces, who overcame the 

 Tartars, and desolated that peninsula ; she took Otch- 

 akof, and subdued Moldavia; and after the loss of 

 above 100,000 men, and vast sums of money, she con- 

 cluded a treaty with the Porte, by virtue of which 

 Moldavia and Otchakof were given back, and Russia 

 gained nothing, except permission to build a fortress 



Ivan Anto. upon the Don. 



novitch. At the death of Ann in the year 1 740, Ivan An- 



1740. tonovitch, the son of her niece, the princess Mecklen- 



Peter II. 

 1727. 



Ann. 

 1730. 



burgh, by her will succeeded to the throne. Biron, Hussia. 

 Duke of Courland, was at first regent ; but he being "" ~r 

 unpopular, it was no difficult matter for that princess, 

 assisted by her husband, to accomplish his banishment 

 to Siberia, and for herself to assume the administrator- 

 ship. 



But Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great by Ca- Elizabeth. 

 tharine, had a powerful party, by whose assistance she 17*1. 

 assumed the throne, while the prince and princess of 

 Mecklenburgh were sent into banishment. The young 

 prince Ivan was kept in confinement, and afterwards 

 murdered in the castle of Schusselberg. Soon after her 

 accession, Elizabeth nominated as her successor to the 

 throne Charles Peter Ulric, son of the Duke of Hol- 

 stein Gottorp, by Anne daughter of Peter the Great. 

 This prince was accordingly invited into Russia, be- 

 came a member of the Greek church, was baptized by 

 the name of Peter Pheodorovitch, and proclaimed grand 

 Duke of Russia, and heir of the empire, in the fortieth 

 year of his age. Soon afterwards he was married to 

 Sophia Augusta Frederica, daughter of Christian Au- 

 gustus, prince of Anhalt-Zerbst-Donburg, who became 

 the famous princess Catharine II. By the death of 

 Charles XII. emperor of Germany, Maria Theresa, 

 queen of Hungary, was left at the mercy of the enter- 

 prising King of Prussia, but was assisted by Eliza- 

 beth, who entered into a confederacy, and sent a body 

 of troops into Germany. For an account of a seven 

 years war, the reader may consult the article PRUSSIA. 



Elizabeth died on the 5th Jan. 1762, the victim of 1762. 

 disease, brought on by intemperance. The empress 

 Ann had given an unworthy example of keeping fa- 

 vourites, which has been followed by all the subse- 

 quent princesses who have swayed the sceptre of Rus- 

 sia, and in a more open manner than is sanctioned by 

 the custom of civilized nations. Elizabeth had her 

 portion of them, and her conduct deserves reprobation. 

 She is said to have possessed an extraordinary share of 

 humanity ; and, during her reign, punishment by 

 death was unknown, in consequence of a vow she had 

 made, and which led to numerous abuses and enormi- 

 ties in the civil, military, and naval departments. 

 Though she was a woman of no talents, her reign v-is 

 prosperous; and the same means, as in the time of her 

 immediate predecessors, were continued with the view 

 of improving and civilizing her people. In the year 

 1758, the Academy of Arts, now one of the most mag- 

 nificent establishments in the universe, was founded at 

 Petersburgh. Fond of music, she encouraged its cul- 

 tivation, and she laid the foundation of a Russian the- 

 atre. She was also a great patroness of architecture. 

 She followed the same policy as her predecessors, in 

 encouraging foreigners to come and settle in her em- 

 pire. But the army was much neglected ; and a kind 

 of inquisition, under the specious name of a secret state 

 chancery, was instituted, which led to the most fla- 

 grant abuses. 



The grand Duke Peter III. ascended the throne of p e tcr III. 

 Russia on the demise of Elizabeth in 1762. His whole 1763. 

 life shows that he was a feeble prince. He attempted 

 many premature and foolish innovations, and by that 

 means disgusted his people. By his inconstancy he 

 lost the affections of his wife, a lovely and accom- 

 plished princess in the prime of life. Assisted by the 

 wily princess Dashkof, and by some officers, especially 

 the Orlofs, she formed a party, and, to avoid impri- 

 sonment and perhaps death, she succeeded in the de- 

 thronement of her husband. On tm's occasion, but for 

 the greatest pusillanimity, Peter would have regained 



