RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 127 



Ivan; and upon his death, which happened in 1696, Peter reigned 

 alone and cruelly provided for his own future security by the execu- 

 tion of above 3000 Strelitzes. 



Peter, though he had been but very indifferently educated through 

 the jealousy of his sister, associated himself with the Germans and 

 Dutch ; with the former for the sake of their manufactures, which he 

 early introduced into his dominions ; and with the latter for their skill 

 in navigation, which he practised himself. His inclination for the 

 arts was encouraged by his favourite Le Fort, a Piedmontese ; and 

 general Gordon, a Scotchman, disciplined the czar's own regiment, 

 consisting of 5000 foreigners ; while Le Fort raised a regiment of 

 12,000, among whom he introduced the French and German exer- 

 cises of arms, with a view of employing them in curbing the insolence 

 of the Strelitzes. Peter, alter this, began his travels, leaving his mi- 

 litary affairs in the hands of Gordon. He set out as an attendant upon 

 his own ambassadors ; and his adventures in Holland and England} 

 and other courts are too numerous, and too well known, to be inserted 

 here. By working as a common ship-carpenter at Deptford and Saar- 

 dam, he completed himself in ship-building and navigation ; and 

 through the excellent discipline introduced among his troops by the 

 foreigners, he not only over-awed or crushed all civil insurrections, 

 but all his enemies on this side of Asia ; and at last he even exter- 

 minated, excepting two feeble regiments, the whole body of the Stre- 

 litzes. He rose gradually through every rank and service both by 

 sea and land ; and the many defeats which he received, especially that 

 from Charles XII, at Narve, stimulated him to new exertions. The 

 battles he lost rendered him at length a conqueror, by adding experi- 

 ence to his courage ; and the generous friendship he showed to Au- 

 gustus king of Poland, both before and after he was dethroned by the 

 king of Sweden, redounds greatly to his honour. He had no regard 

 for rank distinct from merit ; and he at last married Catharine, a young 

 Lithuanian woman, who had been betrothed to a Swedish soldier ; 

 because, after a long cohabitation, he found her possessed of a soul 

 formed to execute his plans and to assist his councils. Catharine 

 was so much a stranger to her own country, that her husband after- 

 wards discovered her brother, who served as a common soldier in his 

 armies. But military and naval triumphs, which succeeded one ano- 

 ther after the battle of Pultowa in 1709, with Charles XII, were not 

 the chief glory of Peter's reign. He applied himself with equal as- 

 siduity to the cultivation of commerce, arts, and sciences ; and made 

 such acquisitions of dominion, that he may be said at the time of his 

 death, which happened in 1725, to have been the most powerful prince 

 of his age, but more feared than beloved by his subjects. 



Peter the Great was unfortunate in his eldest son, who in Russia is 

 entitled the Czarowitz, and who, marrying without his consent, en- 

 tered, as his father alleged, into some dangerous practices against his 

 person and government ; for which he was tried and condemned to 

 death. Under a sovereign so despotic as Peter was, it is difficult to 

 determine on the justice of the charge. It was undoubtedly his will 

 that the young prince should be found guilty : and the very reading 

 of the sentence appears to have been fatal to him. It is said, that, as 

 soon as sentence of death was pronounced upon the prince, in which 

 were the following words, " The divine, ecclesiastical, civil, and mili- 

 tary law, condemns to death, without mercy, all those whose attempts 

 against their father and their sovereign arc manifest," he fell into the 



