RUSSIA. 
men of rank and influence, whom he called his play-mates. 
Among these were two foreigners, Lefort, a Genevese, and 
Gordon, a Scotchman, who afterwards signalized themselves 
in his service. These young men had formed a sort of 
military company, of which Lefort was captain, while the 
young tzar, beginning with the situation of drummer, gradu¬ 
ally rose through every subordinate office. Under this ap¬ 
pearance of a military game, Peter was secretly establishing 
himself in the affections of his young companions, and 
effectually lulled the suspicions of Sophia, till it was too late 
for her to oppose his machinations. 
About the middle of the year 1689, Peter, who had now 
attained his seventeenth year, determined to make an effort 
to deprive Sophia of all share in the government, and to se¬ 
cure to himself the undivided sovereignty. On occasion of 
a solemn religious meeting that was held, Sophia had claimed 
the principal place as regent of the empire; but this claim 
was strenuously opposed by Peter, who, rather than fill a 
subordinate situation, quitted the place of assembly, and 
with his friends and adherents, withdrew to the monastery 
of the Holy Trinity, which had formerly sheltered both him 
and his co-partners from the fury of the Strelitzes. This was 
the signal for an open rupture. Sophia, finding that she 
could not openly oppose the party of the tzar, attempted to 
procure his assassination; but as her design was discovered, 
she thought proper to solicit an accommodation. This was 
agreed to, on condition that she should give up all claim to 
the regency, and retire to a nunnery. The commander of 
the Strelitzes, who was to have been her agent in the assassi¬ 
nation of Peter, was beheaded, and the minister Galitzin sent 
into banishment to Archangel. 
Peter now saw himself in undisputed possession of the 
imperial throne; for though Ivan w'as still nominally tzar, 
he had voluntarily resigned all participation in the adminis¬ 
tration of affairs, and retired to a life of obscurity. The 
first object to which the tzar directed his attention was the 
establishment of a regular and well disciplined military 
force. He commissioned Lefort and Gordon to levy new 
regiments, which, in their whole constitution, dress, and 
military exercises, should be formed on the model of other 
European Iroops. He next resolved to carry into execution 
the design which had been formed by his father, of con¬ 
structing a navy. For this purpose he first took a journey 
to Archangel, where he employed himself in examining the 
operations of the shipwrights, and occasionally taking a 
part in their labours; but as he learned that the art of ship- 
building was practised in greater perfection in Holland, and 
some other maritime countries of Europe, he sent thither 
several young Russians to be initiated into the best method 
of constructing ships of war. 
The war with Turkey still languished, but Peter was re¬ 
solved to prosecute it with vigour, hoping to get possession 
of the town of Azof, and thus open a passage to the Black 
Sea. He placed Gordon, Lefort, and two of his nobles at 
the head of the forces destined for this expedition, and him¬ 
self attended the army as a private volunteer. The success of 
the first campaign was but trifling, and Peter found that his 
deficiency of artillery, and his want of transports, pre¬ 
vented him from making an effectual attack on Azof. These 
difficulties, however, were soon surmounted. He procured 
a supply of artillery and engineers from the Dutch, and 
found means to provide a number of transports. With 
these auxiliaries he opened the second campaign, de¬ 
feated the Turks on the sea of Azof, and made himself 
master of the town. On account of these successes, Peter, 
on his return from the seat of war, marched his troops into 
Moscow in triumphal procession, in which Lefort, as admiral 
of the transports, and Scheim, as commander of the land 
forces, bore the most conspicuous parts, while Peter himself 
was lost without distinction in the crowd of subaltern 
officers. 
He now resolved to form a fleet in the Black Sea; but as 
his own revenues were insufficient for this purpose, he issued 
a u/case, commanding the patriarch and other dignified 
clergy, the nobility and the merchants, to contribute a part 
Vol. XXII. No. 1515. 
469 - 
of their income towards fitting out a certain number of ships. 
This proclamation was extremely unpopular, and, together 
with the numerous innovations which Peter was every day 
introducing, especially his sending the young nobles to visit 
foreign countries, and his own avowed intention of making 
the tour of Europe, contributed to raise against him a for¬ 
midable party. The vigilance and prudence of the tzar, 
however, extricated him from the dangers with which he was 
threatened, and enabled him to carry into execution his pro¬ 
posed journey. 
On his return to his own dominions, Peter passed through 
Rawa, where Augustus king of Poland then was. The tzar 
had determined, in conjunction with Augustus and the king 
of Denmark, to take advantage of the youth and inexperience 
of Charles XII., who had just succeeded to the Swedish 
throne; and in this interview with Augustus, he made the 
final arrangements for the part which each was to take in the 
war. Augustus was to receive Livonia as his part of the 
spoil, while Frederick king of Denmark had his eye on Hol¬ 
stein, and Peter had formed designs on Ingria, formerly a 
province of the Russian empire. 
In the middle of the year 1700, Charles had left his 
capital, to oppose these united enemies. He soon compelled 
the king of Denmark to give up his designs on Holstein, and 
sign a treaty of peace; and being thus at liberty to turn his 
arms against the other members of the confederacy, he re¬ 
solved first to lead his army against the king of Poland ; but 
on his way he received intelligence that the tzar had laid 
siege to Narva with 100,000 men. On this he immediately 
embarked at Carlscrona, though it was then the depth of 
winter, and the Baltic was scarcely navigable; and soon 
landed at Pernaw in Livonia with part of his forces, having 
ordered the rest to Reval. His army did not exceed 20,000 
men, but it was composed of the best soldiers in Europe, 
while that of the Russians was little better than an undis¬ 
ciplined multitude. Every possible obstruction, however, 
had been thrown in the way of the Swedes. Thirty thou¬ 
sand Russians were posted in a defile on the road, and this 
corps was sustained by another body of 20,000 drawn up 
some leagues nearer Narva. Peler himself had set out to hasten 
the march of a reinforcement of 40,000 men, with whom he 
intended to attack the Swedes in flank and rear; but the celerity 
and valour of Charles baffled every attempt to oppose him. He 
set out with 4000 foot, and an equal number of cavalry, 
leaving the rest of the army to follow at their leisure. With 
this small body he attacked and defeated the Russian armies 
successively, and pushed his way to Peter’s camp, for the 
attack of which he gave immediate orders. This camp was 
fortified by lines of circumvalldtion and contravallation, by 
redouts, by a line of 150 brass cannons placed in front, and 
defended by an army of 80,000 men ; yet so violent was the 
attack of the Swedes, that in three hours the entrenchments 
were carried, and Charles, with only 4000 men, that com¬ 
posed the wing which he commanded, pursued the flying 
enemy, amounting to 50,000, to the river Narva. Here the 
bridge broke down with the weight of the fugitives, and the 
river was filled with their bodies. Great numbers returned 
in despair to their camp, where they defended them¬ 
selves for a short time, but were at last obliged to surrender. 
In this battle 30,000 were killed in the entrenchments and the 
pursuit, or drowned in the river ; 20,000 surrendered at dis¬ 
cretion, and were dismissed unarmed, while the rest were totally 
dispersed. A hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, 28 mortars, 
151 pairs of colouis, 20 standards, and all the Russian bag¬ 
gage, fell into the hands of the Swedes, and the duke de 
Croy, the prince of Georgia, and seven other generals were 
made prisoners. Charles behaved with the greatest genero¬ 
sity to the conquered. Being informed that the tradesmen 
of Narva had refused credit to the officers whom he detained 
prisoners, he sent 1000 ducats to-the duke de Croy, and to 
every other officer a proportionable sum. 
Peter was advancing with 40,000 men to surround the 
Swedes, when he received intelligence of the dreadful defeat at 
Narva. He was greatly chagrined; but comforting himself 
with the hope that the Swedes would in time teach the Rus- 
6 D sians 
