Chap. III. the R u § s t i 
frequented by us, a Paflage might be conveniently fought 
round Nova Zernbla to the Ead Indies^ and accordingly 
various Attempts were made that Way, as in its proper 
Place has been fliewn. It could however hardly be 
forefeen, that fo long a Series of Years fliould elapfe, 
before the Englijh Nation received any Certainty as to 
the North-eaft Frontiers of this fpacious Empire, and 
yet it is purely owing to the great Wifdom and fuperior 
Genius of the Czar Peter the Firft that we are acquaint- 
ed with them now, fo late have we been inftruded as to 
the real Boundaries of that Part of the Globe, with 
which, during fo long a Space, we have had almoft a 
conftant Correfpondence. 
But now we are acquainted with them, let the Quef- 
tion be put. What are we the wifer or the better for 
this Piece of Knowledge ? For that is the Touch-ftone 
of all Acquifitions of this Sort ; fmce if our Knowledge 
ferves only to amufe the Learned, and to furprize the 
Ignorant, it is of very little Confequence, and indeed 
hardly deferves the Name. If, on the other Hand, 
it gives us a jufter Notion of Things than we had be- 
fore, delivers us from the Miftsof ancient Errors, affords 
us a Profpedl of new Truths, and enables us, by thele 
Helps to decide judicioufly of our own Interefts, and thofe 
of other Nations j then, without doubt, our Enquiries 
are to fome Purpofe, and the Iffue of them may be 
well {tiled ufeful and folid Knowledge. 
In the firji Place then, we are now able to re6lify our 
Miftakes, which to be fure were great enough concer- 
ning the Country of the Ruffians. We confidered them 
heretofore as a rude and barbarous Nation, thruft up 
into a Corner of the Globe, of little Confequence to 
their immediate Neighbours, and who were almoft in 
a State of Inability of making themfelves fo much as 
known, much lefs refpedted and feared by the reft of 
the "^V^orld, "^^e lee them now in quite another Light j 
we fee, that in Point of Extent and of Compaanels, no 
Empire, either ancient or modern, can enter into Com- 
parifon with that of Ruffiia, which is at once equal to 
any European Power, and fuperior to that of any Poten- 
tate in Afia. We fee, that inftead of being unknown 
or dilregarded, even by her Neighbours, Ihe has made 
herfelf courted as well as refpedted by the greateft Pow- 
ers in both Europe and Afta^ as being equally formi- 
dable to the Turks ^ the Tartars, the P erf ms, the Chi- 
nefe, and, it may be, the Japnefe, on one Side, and 
to all the Powers in the North, on the other. 
We may from hence learn how eafy fuch Miftakes 
are, and how much Time and Pains it cofts to reftify 
them, which ought to render us more careful in other 
Refpeds, how we fuffer ourfelves to be impofed upon 
by crude and indigefted Opinions, or how we give into 
that common Source of great and dangerous Errors, 
the hafty rejecting as weak, abfurd, and chimeral, fuch 
PropofitionS| of which, from their Novelty and the Want 
of prefent Lights, we cannot immediately fee the clear and 
diifina Grounds. Of this I fhall prefently give a very 
ftrong, and hitherto unnoticed Inffance with refpeft to 
this very Nation, and the Confequences of our Corre- 
fpondence with them. It is very well known, that but 
few Years ago, an A6t of Parliament was ob- 
tained in Favour of the Ruffia Company, to enable 
them to carry on, through that Empire, a Trade 
with Perfia •, and that this was not obtained without 
Oppofition, though the Advantages of fuch a Trade 
w^-e then fet in a very clear Light, and have been fmce 
felt by Experience, notwithftanding the unforefeen and 
inevitable Difficulties to which this new Trade has been 
fubjefted by the great Troubles and frequent Revolu- 
tions in the Country laft mentioned. It would be no 
difficult Thing to ffiew, that Projedts of the fame Kind 
had been many Years ago fet on Foot in Italy and in 
France, but I believe it will be News to moft of my 
Readers, that it was with a View to an Eftabliffiment of 
this Sort, that King James the Firft propofed to fend 
Sir Thomas Overbury into Mufcovy ; and that fome who 
looked upon themfelves as very penetrating People, and 
above the ordinary Rank of Politicians, valued their 
own Sagacities in feeing through this Projeft, as they 
imagined, and treating it as a Thing altogether im- 
practicable, and fit only to amufd the Minds of Specu* 
latifts ; by which, very probably, the Nation was de* 
frauded of a Branch of Commerce that might have pro- 
ved highly beneficial. 
I am too well acquainted with the Temper or the 
prefent Age to advance fo ftrange, and, to moft People^ 
fo unheard-of a Thing as this, without Proof ; and 
therefore I lhall cite a Letter from Mr. John Chamber- 
lain to Sir Ralph IVinwood, preferved among that Gen- 
tleman^s State Papers, who was afterwards Secretary. 
It is dated May 6, i6i8, and the Writer having firft 
obferved, that it was the urging Sir Thomas Overbury to 
go to Mufcovy, that drove him to that peremptory and 
unmannerly Anfwer for which he was committed to the 
Tower, he proceeds thus : “ Indeed we have great 
“ Doings in Hand, and ftrange Projecfts for that Place, 
“ which I doubt will all prove Difcourfes in the Air, 
“ for they be grounded upon certain Speeches of fome 
“ of the Nobility to an Enghjh Merchant about two 
“ Years fince ; hu.t tempora mutantur, and the Cafe is 
“ much alterecf there fmce that Time, Yet the King 
“ apprehends the Bufinefs very earneftly, and hath 
“ caufed Sir Henry Nevile to confer with fome of the 
“ Council about it divers Times, wherein, they fay, he 
“ hath fhewed great Sufficiency, and difcourfed at large 
“ what Commodity might arife by bringing the whole 
“ Trade of Perfia, and the Inland Part of the Eajl 
“ Indies up the River Hydafpes, and fo with a ffiort Cut 
“ down the River Odcus into the Cafpian Sea, and then up 
“ the River Volga to a Straight of Land that will carry 
“ all into the River Dwina, that runs down to St. Nico- 
“ las and the Town of Archangel, the ordinary Port and 
“ Station of our Shipping in thofe Parts. Thefe are 
“ goodly fpecious Dilcourfes of Things not fo eafily 
“ done as I'poken.” If we have found a nearer, fliort- 
er, and more expeditious Method of carrying on and 
improving this Trade, it is becaufe, as our Author 
fays, lempora mutantur •, and that with regard to us and 
the Ruffians alfo, we are no longer under the Neceffiry 
of making the long Voyage to Archangel, nor are they 
obliged to take the Courle before lai4 down for bring- 
ing Commodities into the Heart of their Em- 
pire. Yet for all this, it is no hard Matter to difcern 
this Projedl was both very poffible and very pradticable 
at that Time, and might have been attended wich very 
great Advantages to both Nations. 
We may learn from the Contents of this Seftion, 
more efpecially if we compare them with thofe of the fore- 
going Sections, what are the true Reafons why, with all 
the feeming Advantages of which the Ruffians are now pof- 
feffed, they make, notwithftanding, but a very fmall 
Figure in Commercial Affairs. It is very true, that 
from the advantageous Situation of their Empire, they 
have a Variety of different Profpeds of extending and 
promoting their Trade *, but perhaps this Variety has 
been, and ftill is rather detrimental than beneficial. 
We find them fometimes intent upon eftablifliing their 
Navigation on the Black Sea, and in a few Years this is 
dropped, and their Efforts are made upon the Cafpian ; 
then the Trade by Land with Chinci, and the fuppofed 
Advantages that may be derived from regular Caravans 
ingrofles their Thoughts, till on a hidden they are 
turned to more diftant Difcoveries and a Nava! Corre- 
fpondence with Japan, which is again dropped for the 
Sake of purfuing, a ftill more diftant, and more un- 
certain Scheme of opening a new Route to the Coafts 
of America. 
Thus by running from one Thing to another, and 
by a prepofterous grafping at many Things, Nothing is 
attained, if we except this, that from thefe Attempts it 
has been made very apparent, that all, fave the laft, 
might have been attained. For while Peter the Great 
was poffeifed of Afoph, he not only opened to bis Sub- 
jedts the Commerce, but, as we hinted before, efta- 
bliffied a Naval Force in the Black Sea, and thereby 
terrified the Grand Signior in his Seraglio, but this how- 
ever infpired the Turks with a Refolution of depriving 
him of that Fortrefs, and of the Power of making him 
uneafy on that Side ; which they had the good Luck to 
accompiifh *, yet there may come a Time, when, if 
the 
