IVAN THE TERRIBLE.

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CHAPTER III.

THE RISE OF RUSSIA: PETER THE GREAT (1682-1725).

General Remarks. - We left Russia at the close of the Middle Ages a semi-savage, semi-Asiatic power, so hemmed in by barbarian lands and hostile races as to be almost entirely cut off from intercourse with the civilized world. In the present chapter we wish to tell how she pushed her lines out to the seas on every side, to the Caspian, the Euxine, and the Baltic. The main interest of our story gathers about Peter the Great, whose almost superhuman strength and energy lifted tne great barbarian nation to a prominent place among the powers of Europe.

Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584). The most noteworthy name among the rulers of Russia after the opening of the modern era is that of Ivan IV., surnamed the "Terrible," on account of his many cruel and revengeful acts. While yet a child of thirteen years he caused a boyar, or noble, who had offended him to be torn in pieces in his presence by dogs. Towards the close of his reign he killed his eldest son with a blow of his iron staff. At Novgorod, in punishment for a supposed conspiracy of the nobles, he put to death over 1,500 persons. He had "spasms of remorse" for his deeds, and then would clothe himself in the garb of a penitent, march in the priestly processions, pray himself and ask the prayers of others for the repose of the souls of his victims. At one time he made out a list of 3,470 persons whom he had killed, and asked for them the special prayers of the Church. But in judging Ivan, we ought, as Rambaud fairly urges, to try him by the standards of his own time, and not to forget that "the sixteenth century is the

century of Henry the Eighth, of Ferdinand the Catholic, of Catherine de Medici, of the Inquisition, and of Saint Batholomew."

But Ivan, notwithstanding his terrible disposition, did much to extend and consolidate the Russian dominions. He wrested from the Tartars Kazan (1552) and Astrakan (1554), and thus gained possession of the entire length of the Volga, - the most important highway of commerce within the Russian empire, — and extended the limits of his dominions to the shores of the Caspian. "In the Russian annals," says Rambaud, "the expedition of Kazan occupies the same glorious place as the defeat of Abderrahman in the history of the Franks." From that day to this Russia has steadily pushed the Turanian peoples back from their conquests in Europe, and as steadily encroached upon their domains in Asia.

Ivan also attempted to force his way through to the Baltic and the Black Sea, but Russia had not yet sufficient strength for these great undertakings. They were reserved for the energy and genius of Peter the Great and Catherine II. Before the death of Ivan, however, the Ural Mountains were explored and their great mineral resources discovered, and the conquest of Siberia fairly begun.

During this reign an exploring expedition from England, while searching for a northeast passage to China, discovered the White Sea. The result of the expedition was the founding of the port of Archangel, through which place the English began to carry on trade with Russia. Embassies were exchanged, and the Czar proposed to marry a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, and further sought to conclude a treaty with the Queen whereby each should engage to give the other an asylum in case rebellion or misfortune of any kind should drive either of them into exile. Elizabeth replied graciously, but declined to enter into the reciprocal arrangement, explaining to the Czar that there were, "by the grace of God, no dangers of the sort in her dominions."

In 1547 Ivan assumed the title of Czar, — probably a contraction of Cæsar, the adoption of which title shows his ambition to

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be regarded as the successor of the last Emperor of Constantinople. He maintained that "if Constantinople had been the second, Moscow was the third Rome, the living heir of the Eternal City."

The Conquest of Siberia. - One of the most noteworthy matters relating to Russian history during the seventeenth century is the conquest of Siberia, to which enterprise we have just referred as having been commenced under Ivan the Terrible. This immense region was brought under Russian domination in very much the same way that, during the preceding century, so large a part of the New World was annexed to the Spanish crown. It was explored, conquered, and colonized by just such bands of adventurers as took possession of Mexico and Peru; only here it was not gold and silver, the wealth of barbaric empires, but furs and walrus ivory that drew on the hunters and freebooters " from river to river, and from headland to headland." The conquest, or exploration, or colonization, by whichever name it may be preferred to designate this march of Russia upon Asia, was begun in 1580, and in little more than half a century - by 1639 - the Cossack horsemen were standing upon the eastern shores of Asia and gazing out upon the Pacific.1

The conquest or occupation of Northern Asia having been effected in the manner indicated, - the Czar often having only the vaguest idea of what was going on while half a continent was being taken possession of in his name, it was inevitable that the record of the work should, like that of the Spanish conquests in the New World, be one of crime, oppression, and outrage. In the name of the Czar and of the Cross, the representatives of Russian civilization "slew, plundered, and burned their way from one side of Asia to the other without pity or remorse."

It remained for Russia to complete during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the work begun in the seventeenth, — to

1 It was almost exactly one century later, in 1740, that the explorer Behring, having sometime before discovered the strait which bears his name, sighted the tall form of Mount St. Elias, and by right of discovery added the northwestern portion of North America to the possessions of the Czar.

explore the Siberian coast-line; to establish the Russian boundary in the valley of the Amoor; to follow the Siberian rivers to their sources among the Altai Mountains, and to take possession of the rich mineral-bearing regions about their heads; to beat into subjection the Khans of Turkestan, and to push the Russian frontier as far as possible towards Persia and India.

Beginning of the House of Romanof (1613). - The line of the old Norseman Ruric ended in 1598. Then followed a period of confusion and of foreign invasion, known as the Troublous Times, during which the Poles, the hereditary enemies of the Russians, succeeded in placing one of their own princes upon the Russian throne, after which, in 1613, Michael Romanof, the first of the family that bears his name, was chosen Czar. The dynasty thus founded has held the throne up to the present time.

Accession of Peter the Great (1682). - For more than half a century after the accession of the Romanofs, there is little either in the genius or deeds of any of the line calculated to draw our special attention. But towards the close of the seventeenth century there ascended the Russian throne a man of such capacity and energy and achievement as instantly to draw the gaze of the world, and who has elicited the admiration and wonder of all succeeding generations. This was Peter I., universally known as Peter the Great, one of the remarkable characters of history.

When Peter came to the throne in 1682 he was only ten years of age, so the government was conducted by his step-sister Sophia, in the name of Peter and of a blind, imbecile, elder half-brother, named Ivan, whom the Strelitzes, or national guards, insisted should share the sovereignty with Peter.

His Boyhood. Peter was a strong, eager boy, with a bent for mechanics and military and naval affairs. He was constantly devising ingenious fireworks, arranging sham-fights with playsoldiers, and engaging in boat-building, thus in every way possible illustrating the proverb that the boy is father of the man.

When he was only eleven years of age he organized a play-regiment of his comrades, taking himself the position of a bombar

dier. At a great expenditure of labor he caused a fort to be built, in order that his young soldiers might be exercised in all the manœuvres of a regular siege and assault. This play-regiment and this mimic war were the beginning of the reorganized Russian army, and the precursor of campaigns that concerned the world.

Peter's interest in naval affairs was greatly increased by a discovery which he made in 1688, while wandering over one of his estates. In an old building, stowed away amidst heaps of rubbish, he found an old English boat, which, in answer to his inquiries, he was told would go both with and against the wind. He at once had the boat repaired, and launching it upon a convenient stream, with his own hand upon the helm eagerly navigated it up and down the river. Very soon Peter had mechanics at work making others upon the same model. This was the beginning of the Russian navy. The little model is still carefully preserved at St. Petersburg, and is known as the "Grandsire of the Russian Fleet.”

In 1689, when only seventeen years of age, Peter, convinced that Sophia was intriguing to secure for herself the crown, caused her to be deposed and shut her up in a convent, while he, in connection with Ivan, who naturally yielded to his stronger brother in everything, assumed the responsibilities of government.

His Plans. At this time the dominions of the Czar possessed only one seaport, Archangel, on the White Sea, which harbor for a large part of the year was sealed against vessels by the extreme cold of that high latitude. Russia consequently had no marine commerce; there was no word for fleet in the Russian language. Nor had she manufactures of any note. The Russians were simply a great barbarian nation, "less civilized than the Mexicans when discovered by Cortez."

Now Peter, who had and could have only rude Asiatic ideas of government, looked upon this great savage empire which he had inherited, very much as a man regards his private estate. It was his; he owned it; and he would set himself to develop its resources, to open it up to its neighbors, and in every way to improve it and make it a more valuable royal possession. He saw