252 Mr. Bell on the growing power of Russia. 
own, except in numbers. With his infant navy he captured Azoff, 
at the mouth of the Don, from the Turks, whose attention was 
then almost wholly occupied with the Austrians, Poles, and Vene- 
tians, whom they accounted much more dangerous enemies than 
the rude and illiterate Russians. The capture of this city, then a 
place of importance, and its retention, with the neighbouring sta- 
tion of Taganrock, at the peace of Carlowitz in 1699, gave the 
Russians their first footing on the shores of the Mzotis. But by 
the unfortunate peace of the Pruth, Peter was subsequently obliged 
to resign them again to the power of the sultan, and for the present 
to abandon all ideas of obtaining a share of the commerce of the 
Euxine ; but in the war with Sweden, Peter ultimately gained his 
object, and the battle of Pultowa for ever decided the contest in 
favour of Russia. 
By the peace of Nyslot in 1723, Russia obtained all Livonia, In- 
gria, and part of Carelia, and a firm footing on the Baltic, and the 
Gulfs of Riga and Finland. The disastrous issue of this long war 
of more than twenty years to Sweden, proved, that whilst Peter was 
bern for the good of his country, Charles XII. was equally so for 
the ruin of his. That insane monarch, ruined by reading Homer 
and Quintus Curtius, imagined himself another Alexander, and his 
rival another Darius, and thought of nothing less than the conquest 
of Russia. But the battle of Pultowa dispelled the illusion, cured 
the Swedes of their supposed invincibility, and proved, to their sor- 
row, that they themselves had taught the Russians how to conquer. 
Though by the peace of the Pruth, Peter was deprived of his ob- 
ject in that, direction, yet still Russia increased in political strength 
and importance ; and the distractions of Persia gave Peter an op- 
portunity of extending his conquests on the shores of the Caspian, 
and annexing the provinces of Daghistan, Schirwan, and Gheetan, 
to his dominions. A chart of the Caspian Sea was made by his or- 
ders, in consequence of a survey by Van Vorden, and presented to 
the Academy of Sciences at Paris, as also another by Admiral 
Cruys. An astronomical observatory was erected at St.. Peters- 
burgh, and the most learned academicians of France and Germany 
were invited to the new scientific-and literary institutions he had 
ereated in different parts of his empire, to enlighten his subjects, 
and give them a desire and a taste for knowledge. The plans of 
Peter for enlightening his subjects, improving them by all possible 
means in military and naval science, and thus gradually enabling 
them, not merely to compete with, but to conquer their political ri- 
vals on every side, has since been steadily pursued by all his suc- 
cessors ; and no state, since the commencement of history, has been 
so deeply indebted to, and availed herself more of, the military and 
naval science of other states more enlightened than itself, than 
Russia. All her conquests, whether by sea or land, have been chiefly 
achieved by Russians under foreign officers. Most of her celebrated 
generals or admirals have been Germans or Scotch, as Gordon, Les- 
Jy, the Duke of Croy, Schein, Munich, Lascy, Keith, Weissmann, 
