PETER I. 



495 



manner of collecting the public taxes was simplified ; 

 the German costume was introduced ; beards began 

 to disappear; the numerous retinue of the boiars 

 was diminished ; foreign travel was in a manner ne- 

 cessary to secure the prince's favour ; printing presses 

 were set up, and useful works introduced ; schools 

 were established in all the large towns; and new 

 ecclesiastical institutions organized. When the patri- 

 arch Adrian died, at Moscow, in 1700, the czar left 

 this office, but little inferior in authority to the papal, 

 unfilled. The armistice of two years between Rus- 

 sia and Turkey, stipulated in the peace of Carlovitza 

 between the Porte and Austria, was prolonged (1700) 

 to thirty years ; but, at the same time, war was de- 

 clared against Sweden. Patkul (q. v.) had now 

 matured the alliance of the czar with Augustus, king 

 of Poland, and no indications of good will on the part 

 of the young Charles XII. of Sweden, could divert 

 Peter from his designs. (See Northern fFar.) Peter 

 occupied Ingria, and attacked Narva. The young 

 king of Sweden (see Charles XII.') flew to its relief, 

 and defeated 38,000 Russians with 8000 Swedes, 

 November 30, 1700. This defeat did not shake the 

 resolution of Peter. " I know," said he, " that the 

 Swedes will often defeat us, but we are learning. 

 Our turn to conquer will come at last." Fresh troops 

 were immediately assembled, arms were provided, 

 and the victory of the Russians over the Swedes on 

 the Embach (January 1, 1702), laid the first founda- 

 tion for their future triumphs. Noteburg (which re- 

 ceived from Peter the name of ScMusselburg) and 

 Marienburg were taken ; among the inhabitants of 

 the latter, who were carried into Russia, was the 

 orphan Catharine. After a triumphal entry into 

 Moscow, and a short delay at Woronez, Peter return- 

 ed to the theatre of the war on the Baltic, where 

 MenzikofF had been throwing up fortifications for the 

 protection of the new docks, at the influx of the 

 Olonza into lake Ladoga. For the same purpose, 

 on the first of May, Peter took Nyenschantz, a for- 

 tress at the mouth of the Neva. Four days after, 

 with thirty small vessels, on board of which he served 

 as captain of bombardiers, he took two Swedish ships 

 of war at the mouth of the same river. To reward 

 him for his services on this occasion, admiral Golo- 

 win created him knight of St Andrew. As Nyen- 

 schantz was too far from the cea, and not sufficiently 

 secure, Peter determined to construct a new fort, to 

 protect the mouth of the Neva. He here built a 

 small wooden hut, in the Dutch style, from which he 

 superintended his new work. May 27, 1703, the 

 foundation of the fortress was laid, which the czar 

 called St Petersburg. The work was commenced 

 under the direction of an Italian architect, and 20,000 

 men, from every part of the empire, were soon em- 

 ployed upon it. While engaged in this work, he 

 determined to build a city, which should serve as a 

 commercial emporium, to connect Russia with the 

 rest of Europe. In four months, the fortress of St 

 Petersburg was completed, and the city was also 

 gradually rising. Many of the workmen, unwilling 

 to undertake the long journey to their homes, settled 

 here, where they were besides welcomed by the czar, 

 as they were serviceable in erecting houses for 

 the rich. Many Swedes, Finns and Livonians, 

 driven from home by war, eagerly hastened to 

 the new city, where they received the land in their 

 own right ; so that, in two years (1705), besides 

 Vasili-Ostrov, where the first private houses were 

 built, the island of St Petersburg and the admiralty 

 quarter were settled. (See Petersburg.') Under 

 the direction of MenzikofF, the fortress of Cronschlot 

 arose from the sea, at a short distance, for the protec- 

 tion of Petersburg. More than 8000 horses, and as 

 many men, perished in the labour of transporting 



the materials for building ; but in March of the fol- 

 lowing year, the cannons thundered from the walla 

 of Cronschlot. 



In the mean time, Austria, Holland, and Britain 

 made every exertion to destroy the alliance of Peter 

 with Augustus of Poland. Charles left his great 

 enemy in the heart of Livonia, and marched to 

 Saxony to compel Peter's ally to abdicate his throne. 

 Peter, on the other hand, commenced his new opera- 

 tions by the destruction of a Swedish flotilla of thir- 

 teen ships on lake Peipus. Dorpat, Narva, and 

 Ivangorod were captured, and the Swedish army was 

 finally destroyed under the walls of Pultawa (July 8, 

 1709). The czar, now promoted to the rank of 

 lieutenant-general in the army, and rear-admiral in 

 the fleet, wrote from the field of battle to Admiral 

 Apraxin in Petersburg " Our enemy has experienc- 

 ed the fate of Phaeton, and the foundation of our 

 city on the Neva is, at length, firm." Peter imme- 

 diately hastened back to his favourite city on the 

 Neva, where he made preparations to connect lake 

 Ladoga with the Wolga, and concluded commercial 

 treaties with France, Italy, and the Hanseatic towns. 

 Having celebrated his victory by a triumphal entry 

 into Moscow, and re-organized the army, consisting 

 of thirty-three regiments of infantry, twenty-four of 

 cavalry, and 58,000 garrison troops, he commenced 

 his campaign in Livonia and Carelia, which were 

 conque'red in 1710. The Turks, instigated by 

 Charles XII., had, meanwhile, declared war against 

 him. Peter immediately established a senate to ad- 

 minister the affairs of the empire, and, having restor- 

 ed to the bishoprics and monasteries the property 

 before taken from them, in order to gain the favour of 

 the clergy and the nation, he advanced to the Pruth, 

 opposite the camp of Mehemed, the grand-vizier. 

 The soldiers were here reduced to the greatest ex- 

 tremes from want of provision, and their condition 

 was the more desperate on account of the defection 

 of the prince of Walachia, and his refusal to furnish 

 the promised supplies. Peter, nevertheless, crossed 

 the river, but he was forced to retreat, and his ex- 

 hausted army was surrounded by a numerous enemy. 

 Peter saw nothing before him but captivity or death. 

 He was delivered from this difficulty by his new wife, 

 Catharine (whom he had privately married in 1707, 

 and declared his lawful wife March 6, 1711.) As- 

 sisted by the field-marshal Scheremeteff, she sent to 

 the grand-vizier, proposals of peace. A large sum of 

 money, and valuable jewels, with promises of further 

 remittances, all without the knowledge of Peter, are 

 said to have accompanied the letter of Scheremeteff 

 to the grand-vizier. During this time, Peter, des- 

 pairing of any favourable results from this mission, 

 and reduced to despondency, wrote to the senate in 

 Moscow " If I fall into the hands of the enemy, 

 consider me no longer as your sovereign, and obey 

 no commands which shall proceed from the place of 

 my confinement, though it should be signed by my 

 own hand. If I perish, choose the worthiest among 

 you to succeed me." July 23, 1711, the peace of 

 Hus was concluded, in spite of all the opposition of 

 count Poniatowski, the agent of Charles XII. Peter 

 purchased his own safety, and that of his army and 

 empire, by the sacrifice of Azoph. (See Russia and 

 the Ottoman Empire.) Cantemir, prince of Moldavia, 

 whom Peter refused to give up on any condition, fol- 

 lowed the czar, and continued to receive from him a 

 pension until his death, twelve years afterwards. 



He now applied himself with great activity to the 

 prosecution of the war in Pomerania against Sweden. 

 To restore his health, he went to Carlsbad, in the 

 summer of 1711, and, on his return to Moscow, pub- 

 licly solemnized his marriage with Catharine (Feb. 19, 

 171SJV The translation of the senate of regency to 



