126 RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



Ukraine but was unfortunate in his wars with the Swedes, When 

 the grand-seignor, Mahomet IV, haughtily demanded some posses- 

 sions from him in the Ukraine, his answer was, " that he scorned to 

 submit to a Mahometan dog, and that his cimeter was as good as the 

 grand-seignor's sabre." He promoted agriculture ; introduced into 

 his empire arts and sciences, of which he was himself a lover ; pub- 

 lished a code of laws, some of which are still used in the administra- 

 tion of justice ; and greatly improved his army by establishing dis- 

 cipline. This he effected chiefly by the aid of foreigners, most of 

 whom were Scotch. He subdued a chief of the Don Cossacs, named 

 Stenka Rasin, who endeavoured to make himself king of Astracan ; 

 and the rebel, with 12,000 of his adherents, were hanged on the high 

 roads. He introduced linen and silk manufactures into his dominions ; 

 and, instead of putting to death or enslaving his Lithuanian, Polish, 

 and Tartar prisoners, he sent them to people the banks of the Volga 

 and the Kamma. Theodore succeeded his father Alexius in 1667. 

 He reigned seven years ; and having on his death-bed called his 

 boyars around trim, in the presence of his brother and sister, Ivan 

 and Sophia, and of Peter, who was afterwards so celebrated, and who 

 was his half-brother, he said to them, "Hear my last sentiments; 

 they are dictated by my love for the state, and by my affection for 

 my people. The bodily infirmities of Ivan necessarily must affect 

 his mental faculties ; he is incapable of ruling an empire like that of 

 Russia; he cannot take it amiss if I recommend to you to set him 

 aside, and let your approbation fall on Peter, who, to a robust con- 

 stitution, joins great strength of mind, and marks of a superior 

 understanding." But this wise destination extremely offended the 

 princess Sophia, who was a woman of great ambition, and who, after 

 the death of Theodore, found means to excite a violent sedition among 

 the Strelitzes, who then formed the standing army of Russia. Their 

 excesses surpassed all description ; but Sophia, by her management, 

 replaced her brother Ivan in his birth-right, and exercised the govern- 

 ment herself with the greatest severity and inhumanity ; for all the 

 Russian grandees who were related to Peter, or whom she supposed 

 to favour him, were put to cruel deaths. The instances given of her 

 barbarous administration are shocking to humanity. At length, in 

 1682, the two princes, Ivan and Peter, were declared joint sovereigns, 

 and their sister their associate co-regent. Her administration was 

 bloody and tumultuous ; nor durst she venture to check the fury of 

 the Strelitzes, and other insurgents. Finding this debility in her 

 own person, she intended to have married prince Basil Galitzin, who 

 is said to have been a man of sense and spirit, and some learning. 

 Being placed at the head of the army by Sophia, he marched into 

 Crim Tartary ; but Peter now was about 17 years of age, and asserted 

 his right to the throne. Sophia and Ivan were then at Moscow ; and 

 upon Peter's publishing aloud that a conspiracy had been formed by 

 his sister to murder him, he was joined by the Strelitzes, who defeat- 

 ed or destroyed Sophia's party, and forced herself to retire to a mon- 

 astery. Galkzin's life was spared ; but his great estate was confis- 

 cated, and the following curious sentence was pronounced as his 

 punishment. " Thou art commanded by the most clement czar to 

 repair to Karga, a town under the pole, and there to continue the 

 remainder of thy days. His majesty, out of his extreme goodness, 

 allows thee three pence per day for thy subsistence. This left Peter 

 with no other competitor, in the year 1 689, than thi mild and easy 



