querors had left them. Basilius died in 1533, and was succeeded by his son John Basiliowitz II., an infant of five years of age. During the minority of John II. his two uncles Andrew and George endeavoured to deprive him of the crown; but their attempts were defeated by the activity of his guardians. The Poles also commenced hostilities, but made little progress. John, as soon as he entered his nineteenth year, showed a desire to rescue his subjects out of that desperate state of ignorance and barbarism in which they had been hitherto immersed. He sent a splendid embassy to the emperor Charles V., who was then at Augsburg, to desire the renewal of a treaty of friendship which had been concluded with his father Maximilian, and offering to enter into a league with him against the Turks, as enemies to the Christian religion; for his farther information in which, particularly in regard to the doctrine and ceremonies of the Latin church, he requested that his ambassador might be allowed to send from Germany to Russia proper priests to instruct him and his subects. With these he likewise desired to have some wise and experienced statesmen, able to civilize the wild people under his government; and also, the better to help to polish them, he requested that he would send mechanics and artists of every kind; in return for all which he offered to furnish two tons of gold yearly, for twenty years together, to be employed in the war against the Turks. The emperor readily agreed, and the Russian ambassador accordingly engaged upwards of 300 German artists, to repair to Lubec, and proceed thence to Livonia. But the Lubeckers, who were very powerful at that time, and aimed at nothing less than the engrossing of the whole commerce of the north, stopped them, and represented strongly to the emperor, in the name of all the merchants in Livonia, the dangerous consequence of thus affording instructions to the Russians, who would soon avail themselves of it to ruin their trade, and distress the subjects of his imperia! majesty. The workmen and others intended for Russia were easily prevailed upon to return home; and the czar's ambassador was arrested upon his arrival at Lubec, and imprisoned there at the suit of the Livonians: however he escaped soon after; and the czar, though provoked at the Lubeckers, was obliged to suspend his resentment. His first enterprise was against the Tartars at Casan, who had hitherto been such formidable enemies. In this he was attended with success: the whole territory was conquered in seven years; but the capital, Casan, being well fortified and bravely defended, made such resistance as quite disheartened the besiegers. John, hearing of this, hastened to them with considerable reinforcement, and exhorted them to push the siege with redoubled vigor. But the greater part, deaf to his remonstrances, proceeded to mutiny, and fell upon their comrades who were for continuing the war. John, alarmed at this, rushed in among the combatants, and with difficulty parted them; but neither menaces nor entreaties, nor even a promise of the whole plunder of the city if they took it, could prevail on them to continue the war. Their rage at last prompted them to threaten the life of their sovereign, who was obliged to make the best of his way to Moscow; and the mutineers instantly returned thither. John, though justly incensed at this insolence, took a method of punishing it which does honor to his humanity. Having selected a guard of 2000 of his best troops, he ordered a great feast, to which he invited his principal nobles and officers, to each of whom, according to the Russian custom, he gave very rich garments. The chief of the seditious were clothed in black velvet; and after the dinner was over he made a speech to the whole company, setting forth the behaviour of his troops before Casan, their contempt of his commands, and their conspiracy against his life: to which he added that he was doubly sorry to find the instigators of such wickedness among those who were styled, and who ought to be, his faithful counsellors; and that those who knew themselves to be guilty of such atrocious wickedness could not do better than voluntarily to submit themselves to his mercy. Upon this most of them immediately threw themselves at his feet, and implored his pardon. Some of the most criminal were executed, but the rest were only imprisoned. Immediately after this John marched with a fresh army to reinvest Casan, before the Tartars had time to recover themselves. The besieged still made an obstinate defence, and the Russians again began to be dispirited; upon which the czar ordered his pioneers to undermine the walls of the citadel, a practice then unknown to the Tartars. This work being completed, he directed his priests to read a solemn mass to the whole army, at the head of which he afterwards spent some time in prayer, and then ordered fire to be set to the powder, which acted so effectually that great part of the foundation was immediately blown up, and the Muscovites, rushing into the city, slaughtered all before them; while the astonished Tartars, crowding out at the opposite gate, crossed the Casanka, and fled into the forests. Among the prisoners taken on this occasion were Simeon king of Casan, with his queen; both of whom were sent to Moscow, where they were treated with the utmost civility and respect. Encouraged by this success, John invaded the country of Astracan, the capital of which he soon reduced; after which he prepared to revenge himself on the Livonians for their behaviour in stopping the German artists. John Basiliowitz I. had concluded a truce with this people for fifty years; which now being expired, lodocus, archbishop of Dorpt and canon of Munster, sensible of the danger to which he was exposed by the vicinity of the Russians, requested the czar to give him a prolongation of the truce. John offered him the alternative of a truce for five years, upon payment of one-fifth of a ducat for each person in Dorpt; or for twenty years, on condition that he and the Livonians should rebuild all the Russian churches which had been demolished in their territories, and allow his subjects the free exercise of their religion. Iodocus evaded an answer, but at last levied a considerable sum, and fled with it to Munster, where he resigned his prebend and married. His successor, named Herman, and the deputies from Livonia, accepted of condi- their nation to be a set of perjured wretches, who tious, and swore to observe them; with this ad- had renounced all honesty; that they might go ditional clause, that the priests of the Romish back with their money and proposals, and let communion should be exempted from paying their countrymen know that his vengeance would tribute. But, while the Livonians swore to these soon overtake them. The ambassadors were terms, they were at that very time in treaty with scarcely arrived in Livonia when an army of Gustavus Vasa, king of Sweden, to join them 300,000 Russians entered the district of Nerva, in attacking Russia. Gustavus complied with under Peter Sisegaledrii, who had been a famous their desires; upon which John invaded Fin- pirate in the Euxine Sea. He took Nerva in land. Gustavus advanced against him with a nine days, and soon made himself master of powerful army; but, as neither the Poles nor Li- Dorpt, where he found immense treasures. Sevonians gave him any assistance, he was obliged veral other garrisons, terrified by the approach of to conclude a treaty with the czar, and soon after such numbers, quitted their posts; so that the to evacuate the country. Finland was then Russians becaine masters of a great part of Livogoverned by William of Furstenberg, grand mas- nia almost without opposition. At last Gothard ter of the Livonian knights and the archbishop Kettler, grand master of the knights of Livonia, of Riga; between whom a quarrel happened entreated Christian III. king of Denmark, to about this time, which facilitated John's designs. take Riga, Revel, and the countries of Garnland, The archbishop, after attempting to set himself Wirrland, and Esthonia, under his protection; above the grand master even in civil affairs, and but, from his advanced age, he declined the offer, to persecute those who adhered to the conefesion though he assisted them with money and powder, of Augsburg, chose for his coadjutor in the arch- of which they stood greatly in need. Having bishopric of Riga Christopher duke of Mecklen- then applied to the emperor of Germany and the burg. From the abilities and haughty temper court of Sweden, Kettler put himself under the of this lord the Livonian knights had reason to protection of the Poles, who had hitherto been fear the worst; and the step was, besides, un- such formidable enemies to the Russians. In the precedented, and contrary to the established mean time the latter pursued their conquests; laws. These discontents were heightened by took the city of Marienburg, laid waste the disletters intercepted from the archbishop to his trict of Riga, destroyed Garnland, and penetrated brother Albert, duke of Prussia, inviting this to the very gates of Revel. Felin, though prolast to suppress the order of Livonian knights, vided with the best artillery in the whole counand to secularise their possessions; so that an try, became theirs by the treachery of its garopen war broke out among the contending rison; and William of Furstenberg, the old parties, and the archbishop was seized and made grand master, was taken, and ended his days in prisoner. He was, however, soon released, a prison at Moscow. The distracted situation through the mediation of the emperor of Ger- of the Livonian affairs now reduced the bishop many and other potentates, backed by the pow- of Oesal to sell his bishopric to Ferdinand king erful preparations of the Prussians to avenge his of Denmark, who exchanged it with his brother cause; but in the mean time, the strength of Magnus for a part of Holstein. The districts their country being totally exhausted, the Livo- of Revel and Esthonia put themselves under the nians were obliged, instead of preparing for war, protection of Sweden; and the grand master, to sue to the czar for peace. John replied that finding himself deserted by all, suppressed the he did not believe their intentions to be sincere order of which he was the chief, and accepted of while they kept 6000 Germans in pay; and, the duchy of Courland, which he held as a fief therefore, if they meant to treat of peace, they of the crown of Poland. The czar saw with must begin with dismissing these troops. The pleasure the division of Livonia between the Livonians did as they were ordered; and in 1558 Swedes and Poles, which, he rightly judged, an army of 100,000 Russians entered the district would produce quarrels between the two nations, of Dorpt, and laid every thing waste with the and thus give him the fairer opportunity of most shocking cruelty. After this they entered seizing the whole. In 1564 the Swedes offered the territories of Riga, where they behaved with him their assistance against the Poles; but he, equal inhumanity; and, having at last satiated judging himself strong enough without them, atthemselves with blood and treasure, they retired tacked the Poles with his own forces, but was twice with an immense booty and a great number of defeated, which checked his farther operations prisoners. The Livonians, now convinced of in Livonia. In 1569 he entered into a treaty of their own folly in provoking the rage of the Rus- commerce with England, captain Richard Chansians, sent ambassadors to sue for peace. These cellor having recently discovered a passage to offered the czar a present of 30,000 ducats, and Archangel in Russia, through the White Sea, by prevailed upon him to grant their nation a truce which that empire could be supplied with foreign for four months, during which they returned goods, without the assistance of Poland or Livohome to get the money. But in this interval the nia. To the discoverers of this new passage John Livonian governor of the city of Nerva fired granted many exclusive privileges; and after the some cannon against Ivanogorod or Russian death of queen Mary I. renewed the alliance Nerva, on the opposite side of the river, and with queen Elizabeth, which has been continued killed several of the czar's subjects who were without interruption ever since. In the mean quite unarmed. The Russians, out of regard to time, however, a prodigious army of Turks and the truce, did not attempt to make reprisals, but Tartars entered Muscovy, with a design to subdue immediately acquainted John with it; which so the whole country; but Zerebrinor, the cat's incensed the czar that, when the Livonian am- general, having attacked them in a defile, put bassadors arrived, he told them he looked upon them to flight with great slaughter. They thea retired towards the mouth of the Volga; but, being closely pursued by the Russians and Tartars, they were again defeated, and forced to fly towards Azof on the Black Sea, which they found ruined by the blowing up of a powder magazine. The Russians then attacked their ships there, took some, and sunk the rest; by which means almost the whole army perished either with hunger or sword. From this time the empire of Russia became so formidable that none of the neighbouring nations could expect to make a conquest of it. The Poles and Swedes indeed continued to be very formidable; and, by the instigation of the former, the Crim Tartars, in 1571, again invaded the country with an army of 70,000 men. The Russians, who might have prevented their passing the Volga, retired before them till they came within eighteen miles of Moscow, where they were totally defeated. The czar no sooner heard this news than he retired with his most valuable effects to a well fortified cloister; upon which the Tartars entered the city, plundered it, and set fire to several churches. A violent storm of wind soon spread the flames all over the city, which was totally burnt in six hours, though its circumference was upwards of forty miles. The fire likewise communicated itself to a powder magazine at some distance from the city; by which accident upwards of fifty roods of the city wall, with all the buildings upon it, were destroyed; and, according to the best historians, upwards of 120,000 citizens were burnt or buried in the ruins, besides women, children, and foreigners. The castle, however, which was strongly fortified, could not be taken; and the Tartars hearing that a formidable army was coming against them under John Magnus, duke of Holstein, whom John had made king of Livonia, thought proper to retire. The war, nevertheless, continued with the Poles and Swedes; and the czar, being defeated by the latter after some trifling success, was reduced to the necessity of suing for peace. But, the negociations being somehow or other broken off, the war was renewed with vigor. The Livonians, Poles, and Swedes, having united against the Russians, gained great advantages over them; and in 1579 Stephen Battori, then king of Poland, levied an army to invade Russia, and regain all that Poland had formerly claimed, which indeed was little less than the whole empire. As the Poles understood the art of war much better than the Russians, John found his undisciplined multitudes unable to cope with the regular forces of his enemies; and their conquests were so rapid that he was soon obliged to sue for peace, which, however, was not granted: and the number of enemies which now attacked Russia might probably have conquered it entirely, had not the allies grown jealous of each other. The consequence was that, in 1582, a peace was concluded with the Poles, in which the Swedes were not comprehended. However the Swedes, finding themselves unable to effect any thing of moment after the desertion of their allies, concluded a truce; after which the czar, having been worsted in an engagement with the Tartars, died in 1548. This great prince was succeeded by his son Theodore; a man of such weak under standing that he was totally unfit for government. Under him, therefore, the Russian affairs fell into confusion; and Boris Gudenov, a nobleman whose sister Theodore had married, assumed all the authority. At last he resolved to usurp the throne. For this purpose he caused the czar's brother Demetrius, who was only nine years of age, to be assassinated, and afterwards caused the czar also to be murdered. In 1597 the czar himself was taken ill and died, being poisoned by Gudenov; of which indeed the czarina was so well convinced that she would never afterwards speak to her brother. With Theodore ended the line of Ruric, who had governed the empire of Russia for above 700 years. II. RUSSIA, TILL THE ELECTION OF THEODORE III, OF THE HOUSE OF ROMANO V.-Boris, who in reality was possessed of all the power, and would indeed have suffered nobody else to reign, artfully pretended to be unwilling to accept the crown, till compelled to it by the intreaties of the people; and even then he put the acceptance of it on the issue of an expedition which he was about to undertake against the Tartars. The truth of the matter, however, was, that no Tartar army was in the field, nor had Boris any intention of invading that country; but by this pretence he assembled an army of 500,000 men, which he thought the most effectual method of securing himself in his new dignity. Boris, in 1600, concluded a peace with the Poles, but resolved to continue the war against the Swedes; however, being disappointed in some of his attempts against that nation, he entered into an alliance with the Swedish monarch, and even proposed a match between the king's brother and his daughter. But, while these things were in agitation, the city of Moscow was desolated by one of the most dreadful famines recorded in history. Thousands of people lay in the streets and highways, with their mouths full of hay, straw, or even the most filthy things, which they had been attempting to eat. In many houses the fattest person was killed, in order to serve for food to the rest. Parents were said to have eaten their children, and children their parents, or to have sold them to buy bread. One author, Petrius, says that he himself saw a woman bite several pieces out of a child's arm as she was carrying it along: and Margaret relates that four women, having ordered a peasant to come to one of their houses, under pretence of paying him for some wood, killed and ate both him and his horse. dreadful calamity lasted three years, notwithstanding all the means which Boris could use to alleviate it; and in this time upwards of 500,000 people perished in the city. In 1604 a young man appeared, who pretended to be Demetrius, whom Boris had caused to be murdered. ported by the Poles, he proved very troublesome to Boris all his lifetime; and after his death deprived his son Theodore II., the new czar, of the empire; after which he ascended the throne himself, and married a Polish princess. However he held the empire but a short time, being killed in an insurrection of his subjects; and the unhappy czarina was sent prisoner to Jaroslaw. After the death of Demetrius, Zuski, who had conspired against him, was chosen czar; but rebellions This Being sup continually taking place, and the empire being perpetually harassed by the Poles and Swedes, in 1610 Zuski was deposed, and Uladislaus son of Sigismund king of Poland was elected. However, the Poles representing to Sigismund that it would be more glorious for him to be the conqueror of Russia than only the father of its sovereign, he carried on the war with such fury that the Russians in despair fell upon the Poles, who resided in great numbers at Moscow. The Poles being well armed, and mostly soldiers, had greatly the advantage; however, they were on the point of being oppressed by numbers, when they fell upon the most cruel method of insuring their success that could be devised. This was by setting fire to the city in several places; and, while the distressed Russians ran to save their families, the Poles fell upon them sword in hand. In this confusion upwards of 100,000 people perished; but the event was that the Poles were finally driven out, and lost all footing in Russia. The expulsion of the Poles was succeeded by the election of Theodore Romanov, a young nobleman of seventeen years of age, whose posterity still continue to enjoy the sovereignty. He died in 1646, and was succeeded by his son Alexis. III. RUSSIA Under the housE OF ROMANOV. -The reign of Alexis was almost one continued scene of tumult and confusion, the empire being harassed on all sides by external enemies, and perpetually disturbed by internal commotions. The sources of these commotions arose from the multiplicity and inconsistency of the laws, and the jarring claims of the border nobles. An emannoy ukase, or personal order of the sovereign, signed with his own hand, is to this day the law of Russia. These edicts are as various as the opinions, prejudices, passions, or whims of men; and in the days of Alexis they produced endless contentions. To remedy this evil, he made a selection from all the edicts of his predecessors, of such as had been familiarly current for 100 years; presuming that those either were founded in natural justice, or during so long a currency had formed the minds of the people to consider them as just. This digest, which he declared to be the common law of Russia, and which is prefaced by a sort of institute, is the standard law book at this day, known by the title of the Ulogenié or Selection; and all edicts prior to it were declared to be obsolete. He soon made his Novellie, however, more bulky than the Ulogenié; and the additions by his successors are beyond enumeration. This was undoubtedly a great and useful work; but Alexis performed another still greater. Though there are many courts of judicature, in this widely extended empire, the emperor has always been lord paramount, and could take a cause from any court immediately before himself. But as several of the old nobles had the remains of principalities in their families, and held their own courts, the sovereign or his ministers, at a distance up the country, frequently found it difficult to bring a eulprit out of one of these hereditary feudal jurisdictions, and try him by the laws of the empire. This was a very disagreeable limitation of imperial power; and the more so, that some tamilies claimed even a right to repledge. A One lucky opportunity offered of settling this dispute; and Alexis embraced it with great ability. Some families on the old frontiers were taxed with their defence, for which they were obliged to keep regiments on foot; and, as they were but scantily indemnified by the state, it sometimes required the exertion of authority to make them keep up their levies. When the frontiers, by the conquest of Casan, were far extended, those gentlemen found the regiments no longer burdensome, because, by the help of false musters, the former scanty allowance much more than reimbursed them for the expense of the establishment. The consequence was that disputes arose among them about the right of guarding certain districts, and law-suits were necessary to settle their respective claims. These were tedious and intricate. claimant showed the order of the court, issued a century or two back to his ancestor, for the marching of his men, as a proof that the right was then in his family. His opponent proved that his ancestors had been the real lords of the marches; but that, on account of their negligence, the court had issued an emannoy ukase to the other, only at that particular period. The emperor ordered all the family archives to be brought to Moscow, and all documents on both sides to be collected. A time was set for the examination; a fine wooden court-house was built; every paper was lodged under a good guard; the day was appointed when the court should be opened and the claims heard; but that morning the house, with all its contents, was in two hours consumed by fire. The emperor then said, 'Gentlemen, henceforward your ranks, your privileges, and your courts, are the nation's, and the nation will guard itself. Your archives are unfortunately lost, but those of the nation remain. I am the keeper, and it is my duty to administer justice for all and to all. Your ranks are not private, but national, attached to the services you are actually performing. Henceforward colonel Buturlin (a private gentleman) ranks before captain Viazemsky (an old prince).' This constitution, which established the different ranks of Russia, as they remain to this day, is by Voltaire ascribed to Peter; but it was the work of Alexis, who, when the situation of himself and his country is considered, must be allowed to have been a great and a good man. He died in 1676. Alexis was succeeded by his son Theodore IV., who after an excellent reign, during the whole of which he exerted himself to the utmost for the good of his subjects, died in 1682, having appointed his brother Peter I., commonly called the Great, his successor. See PETER I. Theodore had another brother named John; but, as he was subject to the falling sickness, the czar had preferred Peter, though very young, to the succession. But through the intrigues of the princess Sophia, sister to Theodore, a strong party was formed in favor of John; and soon after both John and Peter were proclaimed sovereigns of Russia under the administration of Sophia, who was declared regent. But the princess regent conspired against Peter, and, being discovered, was confined for life in a convent. From this time also John continued to be only a nominal sovereign till his deat, which 1 happened in 1696, Peter continuing to engross all the power. To this emperor Russia has long ascribed the whole of her present greatness. The private character of Peter, however, seems to have been very indifferent. Though he had been married in his eighteenth year to a young and beautiful princess, he was not restrained by the vows of wedlock; and was besides so much addicted to the pleasures of the table, the prevailing vice of his country, that nobody could have imagned him capable of effecting the reformation which he accomplished. In spite of all disadvantages, however, he applied himself to he military art and to civil government. He had also a very singular dread of water, which, had it not been conquered, would have rendered him for ever incapable of accomplishing what he afterwards did. When he was about five years of age, his mother went with him in a coach in the spring season; and passing over a dam where there was a considerable water-fall, whilst he lay asleep in her lap, he was so suddenly awaked and frightened by the rushing of the water, that it brought a fever upon him; and after his recovery he retained such a dread of that element that he could not bear to see any standing water, much less to hear a running stream. This aversion, however, he conquered by jumping into water; and afterwards became fond of that ele ment. Beng ashamed of the ignorance in which he had been brought up, he learned almost of himself, and without a master, enough of the High ard Low Dutch languages to speak and write intelligibly in both. He looked upon the Germans and Dutch as the most civilised nations; because the former had already erected some of those arts and manufactures in Moscow which he was desirous of spreading throughout his empire, and the latter excelled in navigation. During the administration of the princess Sophia, he had formed a design of establishing a maritime power in Russia; which he accomplished by the means recorded in our memoir of him. Having reformel his army, and introduced new discipline, he led his troops against the Turks; from whom, in 1696, he took the fortress of Azof; and had the satisfaction to see his fleet defeat that of the enemy. On his return to Moscow were struck the first medals which had ever appeared in Russi. The legend was, 'PETER THE FIRST, the august emperor of Russia.' On the reverse was Aza, with these words Victorious by fire and water' Notwithstanding this success, however, Petr was much chagrined at having his ships all built by foreigners; having besides as great an inclination to have a harbour on the Baltic as on he Euxine. These considerations determined him to send some of the young nobility of his empire into foreign countries, where they might improve. In 1697 he sent sixty young Russians nto Italy, most of them to Venice, and the rest to Leghorn, to learn the method of constructing their galleys. Forty more were sent to Holland, to be instructed in building and working lane ships; others to Germany, to serve in the land forces, and to learn military discipline. At lat he resolved to travel through different countris in person, that he might have the opportuniy of profiting by his own observation and experience. Of this journey we have given a short account in our me. moir of him; and shall only add that, in executing his great design, he lived and worked like a common carpenter. He labored hard at the forges, rope-yards, and mills for sawing timber, manufacturing of paper, wire-drawing, &c. In acquiring the art of a carpenter he began with purchasing a boat, to which he made a mast himself, and by degrees executed every part of the construction of a ship. Peter went also from Sweden to Amsterdam, to attend the lectures of the celebrated Ruysch on anatomy. He likewise attended the lectures of burgo-master Witsen on natural philosophy. From this place he went to Utrecht, to visit king William III. of England; and on his return sent to Archangel a sixty gun ship, in the building of which he had assisted with his own hands. In 1698 he went to England, where he employed himself as he had done in Holland, and perfected himself in the art of ship-building; and, having engaged a great number of artificers, returned with them to Holland: whence he set out for Vienna, where he visited the emperor; and was on the point of setting out for Venice, to finish his improvements, when he was informed of a rebellion having broken out in his dominions. This was occasioned by the superstition and obstinacy of the Russians, who, having an almost invincible attachment to their old ignorance and barbarism, had resolved to dethrone the czar on account of his innovations. But Peter, arriving unexpectedly at Moscow, quickly put an end to their machinations, and took a most severe revenge on those who had been guilty. Having then made great reformations in every part of the empire, in 1700 he entered into a league with the kings of Denmark and Poland against Charles XII. of Sweden. The particulars of this famous war are related under SWEDEN. Here we shall only observe that, from the conclusion of this war, Sweden ceased not only to be a formidable enemy to Russia, but even lost its political consequence in a great measure altogether. Peter applied himself to the cultivation of commerce, arts, and sciences, with equal assiduity as to war; and he made such acquisition of dominion, even in Europe itself, that he may be said, at the time of his death, to have been the most powerful prince of his age. He was unfortunate in the Czarovitz his eldest son, whom he contrived to get rid of by the forms of justice, and then ordered his wife Catharine to be crowned with the same magnificent ceremonies as if she had been a Greek empress, and to be recognised as his successor; which she accordingly was, and mounted the Russian throne upon the decease of her husband. Catharine I. succeeded her husband in 1725, and carried into execution many of the great designs which he had left unfinished. See CATHARINE. She died after a short but glorious reign, in 1727, and was succeeded by Peter II. a minor, son to the Czarovitz Alexis. Many domestic revolutions happened in Russia during the short reign of this prince; but none was more remarkable than the disgrace and exile of prince Menzikoff, the favorite general in the two late |