The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

CHAP. XXXII

Of the laws.

It is well known, that good laws are scarce, and that the due execution of them is still more so. The greater the extent of any state, and the variety of people of which it is composed, the more difficult it is to unite them by the same body of laws. The father of czar Peter formed a digest or code under the title of Oulogenia, which was actually printed, but it by no means answered the end intended.

Peter, in the course of his travels, had collected materials for repairing this great structure, which was falling to decay in many of its parts. He gathered many useful hints from the governments of Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany, and France, selecting from each of these different nations what he thought most suitable to his own.

There was a court of boyards or great men, who determined all matters en dernier ressort. Rank and birth alone gave a seat in this assembly; but the czar thought that knowledge was likewise requisite, and therefore this court was dissolved.

He then instituted a procurator-general, assisted by four assistors, in each of the governments of the empire. These were to overlook the conduct of the judges, whose decrees were subject to an appeal to the senate which he established. Each of those judges was furnished with a copy of the Oulogenia, with additions and necessary alterations, until a complete body of laws could be formed.

It was forbid to these judges to receive any fees, which, however moderate, are always an abusive tax on the fortunes and properties of those concerned in suits of law. The czar also took care that the expenses of the court were moderate, and the decisions speedy. The judges and their clerks had salaries appointed them out of the public treasury, and were not suffered to purchase their offices.

It was in the year 1718, at the very time that he was engaged in the process against his son, that he made the chief part of these regulations. The greatest part of the laws he enacted were borrowed from those of the Swedes, and he made no difficulty to admit to places in his courts of judicature such Swedish prisoners who were well versed in the laws of their own country, and who, having learnt the Russian language, were willing to continue in that kingdom.

The governor of each province and his assistors had the cognizance of private causes within such government; from them there was an appeal to the senate; and if any one, after having been condemned by the senate, appealed to the czar himself, and such appeal was found unjust, he was punished with death: but to mitigate the rigour of this law, the czar created a master of the requests, who received the petitions of those who had affairs depending in the senate, or in the inferior courts, concerning which the laws then in force were not sufficiently explanatory.

At length, in 1722, he completed his new code, prohibiting all the judges, under pain of death, to depart therefrom in their decrees, or to set up their own private opinions in place of the general statutes. This dreadful ordonnance was publicly fixed up, and still remains in all the courts of judicature of the empire.

He erected every thing anew; there was not, even to the common affairs of society, aught but what was his work. He regulated the degrees between man and man, according to their posts and employments, from the admiral and the field-marshal to the ensign, without any regard to birth.

Having always in his own mind, and willing to imprint it on those of his subjects, that services are preferable to pedigree, a certain rank was likewise fixed for the women; and she who took a seat in a public assembly, that did not properly belong to her, was obliged to pay a fine.

By a still more useful regulation, every private soldier, on being made an officer, instantly became a gentleman; and a nobleman, if his character had been impeached in a court of justice, was degraded to a plebeian.

After the settling of these several laws and regulations, it happened that the increase of towns, wealth, and population in the empire, new undertakings, and the creation of new employs, necessarily introduced a multitude of new affairs and unforeseen cases, which were all consequences of that success which attended the czar in the general reformation of his dominions.

The empress Elizabeth completed the body of laws which her father had begun, in which she gave the most lively proofs of that mildness and clemency for which she was so justly famed.

CHAP. XXXIII

Of Religion.

At this time Peter laboured more than ever to reform the clergy. He had abolished the patriarchal office, and by this act of authority had alienated the minds of the ecclesiastics. He was determined that the imperial power should be free and absolute, and that of the church respected, but submissive. His design was, to establish a council of religion, which should always subsist, but dependent on the sovereign, and that it should give no laws to the church, but such as should be approved of by the head of the state, of which the church was a part. He was assisted in this undertaking by the archbishop of Novogorod, named Theophanes Procop, or Procopowitz, i.e. son of Procop.

This prelate was a person of great learning and sagacity: his travels through the different parts of Europe had afforded him opportunities of remarks on the several abuses which reign amongst them. The czar, who had himself been a witness of the same, had this great advantage in forming all his regulations, that he was possessed of an unlimited power to choose what was useful, and reject what was dangerous. He laboured, in concert with the archbishop, in the years 1718 and 1719, to effect his design. He established a perpetual synod, to be composed of twelve members, partly bishops, and partly archpriests, all to be chosen by the sovereign. This college was afterwards augmented to fourteen.

The motives of this establishment were explained by the czar in a preliminary discourse. The chief and most remarkable of these was, 'That under the administration of a college of priests, there was less danger of troubles and insurrections, than under the government of a single head of the church; because the common people, who are always prone to superstition, might, by seeing one head of the church, and another of the state, be led to believe that they were in fact two different powers.' And hereupon he cites as an example, the divisions which so long subsisted between the empire and the papal see, and which stained so many kingdoms with blood.

Peter thought, and openly declared, that the notion of two powers in a state, founded on the allegory of the two swords, mentioned in the apostles, was absurd and erroneous.

This court was invested with the ecclesiastical power of regulating all penances, and examining into the morals and capacity of those nominated by the court to bishoprics, to pass judgment en dernier ressort in all causes relating to religion, in which it was the custom formerly to appeal to the patriarch, and also to take cognizance of the revenues of monasteries, and the distribution of alms.

This synod had the title of most holy, the same which the patriarchs were wont to assume, and in fact the czar seemed to have preserved the patriarchal dignity, but divided among fourteen members, who were all dependant on the crown, and were to take an oath of obedience, which the patriarchs never did. The members of this holy synod, when met in assembly, had the same rank as the senators; but they were like the senate, all dependant on the prince. But neither this new form of church administration, nor the ecclesiastical code, were in full vigour till four years after its institution, namely in 1722. Peter at first intended, that the synod should have the presentation of those whom they thought most worthy to fill the vacant bishoprics. These were to be nominated by the emperor, and consecrated by the synod, Peter frequently presided in person at the assembly. One day that a vacant see was to be filled, the synod observed to the emperor, that they had none but ignorant persons to present to his majesty: 'Well, then,' replied the czar, 'you have only to pitch upon the most honest man, he will be worth two learned ones.'

It is to be observed, that the Greek church has none of that motley order called secular abbots. The petit collet is unknown there, otherwise than by the ridiculousness of its character, but by another abuse (as every thing in this world must be subject to abuse) the bishops and prelates are all chosen from the monastic orders. The first monks were only laymen, partly devotees, and partly fanatics, who retired into the deserts, where they were at length gathered together by St. Basil, who gave them a body of rules, and then they took vows, and were reckoned as the lower order of the church, which is the first step to be taken to arise at higher dignities. It was this that filled all Greece and Asia with monks. Russia was overrun with them. They became rich, powerful, and though excessively ignorant, they were, at the accession of Peter to the throne, almost the only persons who knew how to write. Of this knowledge they made such an abuse, when struck and confounded with the new regulations which Peter introduced in all the departments of government, that he was obliged in 1703 to issue an edict, forbidding the use of pen and ink to the monks, without an express order from the archimandrite, or prior of the convent, who in that case was responsible for the behaviour of those to whom he granted this indulgence.

Peter designed to make this a standing law, and at first he intended, that no one should be admitted into any order under fifty years of age; but that appeared too late an age, as the life of man being in general so limited, there was not time sufficient for such persons to acquire the necessary qualifications for being made bishops; and therefore, with the advice of his synod, he placed it at thirty years complete, but never under; at the same time expressly prohibiting any person exercising the profession of a soldier, or an husbandman, to enter into a convent, without an immediate order from the emperor, or the synod, and to admit no married man upon any account, even though divorced from his wife; unless that wife should at the same time embrace a religious life of her own pure will, and that neither of them had any children. No person in actual employ under government can take the habit, without an express order of the state for that purpose. Every monk is obliged to work with his own hands at some trade. The nuns are never to go without the walls of their convent, and at the age of fifty are to receive the tonsure, as did the deaconesses of the primitive church; but if, before undergoing that ceremony, they have an inclination to marry, they are not only allowed, but even exhorted so to do. An admirable regulation in a country where population is of infinitely greater use than a monastic life.

Peter was desirous that those unhappy females, whom God has destined to people a kingdom, and who, by a mistaken devotion, annihilated in cloisters that race of which they would otherwise become mothers, should at least be of some service to society, which they thus injure; and therefore ordered, that they should all be employed in some handy works, suitable to their sex. The empress Catherine took upon herself the care of sending for several handicrafts over from Brabant and Holland, whom she distributed among these convents, and, in a short time, they produced several kinds of work, which the empress and her ladies always wore as a part of their dress.

There cannot perhaps be any thing conceived more prudent than these institutions; but what merits the attention of all ages, is the regulation which Peter made himself, and which he addressed to the synod in 1724. The ancient ecclesiastical institution is there very learnedly explained, and the indolence of the monkish life admirably well exposed; and he not only recommends an application to labour and industry, but even commands it; and that the principal occupation of those people should be, to assist and relieve the poor. He likewise orders, that sick and infirm soldiers shall be quartered in the convents, and that a certain number of monks shall be set apart to take care of them, and that the most strong and healthy of these shall cultivate the lands belonging to those convents. He orders the same regulations to be observed in the monasteries for women, and that the strongest of these shall take care of the gardens, and the rest to wait on sick or infirm women, who shall be brought from the neighbouring country into the convents for that purpose. He also enters into the minutest details relating to these services; and lastly, he appoints certain monasteries of both sexes for the reception and education of orphans.

In reading this ordinance of Peter the Great, which was published the 31st January, 1724, one would imagine it to have been framed by a minister of state and a father of the church.

Almost all the customs in the Russian church are different from those of ours. As soon as a man is made a sub-deacon, we prohibit him from marrying, and he is accounted guilty of sacrilege if he proves instrumental to the population of his country. On the contrary, when any one has taken a sub-deacon's order in Russia, he is obliged likewise to take a wife, and then may rise to the rank of priest, and arch-priest, but he cannot be made a bishop, unless he is a widower and a monk.

Peter forbid all parish-priests from bringing up more than one son to the service of the church, unless it was particularly desired by the parishioners; and this he did, lest a numerous family might in time come to tyrannize over the parish. We may perceive in these little circumstances relating to church-government, that the legislator had always the good of the state in view, and that he took every precaution to make the clergy properly respected, without being dangerous, and that they should be neither contemptible nor powerful.

In those curious memoirs, composed by an officer who was a particular favourite of Peter the Great, I find the following anecdote: – One day a person reading to the czar that number of the English Spectator, in which a parallel is drawn between him and Lewis XIV. 'I do not think,' said Peter, 'that I deserve the preference that is here given me over that monarch; but I have been fortunate enough to have the superiority over him in one essential point, namely, that of having obliged my clergy to live in peace and submission; whereas my brother Lewis has suffered himself to be ruled by his.'

A prince, whose days were almost wholly spent in the fatigues of war, and his nights in the compiling laws for the better government of so large an empire, and in directing so many great labours, through a space of two thousand leagues, must stand in need of some hours of amusement. Diversions at that time were neither so noble or elegant as they now are, and therefore we must not wonder if Peter amused himself with the entertainment of the sham conclave, of which mention has been already made, and other diversions of the same stamp, which were frequently at the expense of the Romish church, to which he had a great dislike, and which was very pardonable in a prince of the Greek communion, who was determined to be master in his own dominions. He likewise gave several entertainments of the same kind at the expense of the monks of his own country; but of the ancient monks, whose follies and bigotry he wished to ridicule, while he strove to reform the new.

We have already seen that previous to his publishing his church-laws, he created one of his fools pope, and celebrated the feast of the sham conclave. This fool, whose name was Jotof, was between eighty and ninety. The czar took it into his head to make him marry an old widow of his own age, and to have their nuptials publicly solemnized; he caused the invitation to the marriage guests to be made by four persons who were remarkable for stammering. The bride was conducted to church by decrepit old men, four of the most bulky men that could be found in Russia acted as running footmen. The music were seated in a waggon drawn by bears, whom they every now and then pricked with goads of iron, and who, by their roaring, formed a full base, perfectly agreeable to the concert in the cart. The married couple received the benediction in the cathedral from the hands of a deaf and blind priest, who, to appear more ridiculous, wore a large pair of spectacles on his nose. The procession, the wedding, the marriage-feast, the undressing and putting to bed of the bride and bridegroom, were all of a piece with the rest of this burlesque ceremony.

We may perhaps be apt to look upon this as a trivial and ridiculous entertainment for a great prince; but is it more so than our carnival? or to see five or six hundred persons with masks on their faces, and dressed in the most ridiculous manner, skipping and jumping about together, for a whole night in a large room, without speaking a word to each other?

In fine, were the ancient feasts of the fools and the ass, and the abbot of the cuckolds, which were formerly celebrated in our churches, much superior, or did our comedies of the foolish mother exhibit marks of a greater genius?

CHAP. XXXIV

The congress of Aland or Oeland. Death of Charles XII., &c. The treaty of Nystadt.

These immense labours, this minute review of the whole Russian empire, and the melancholy proceedings against his unhappy son, were not the only objects which demanded the attention of the czar; it was necessary to secure himself without doors, at the same time that he was settling order and tranquillity within. The war with Sweden was still carried on, though faintly, in hopes of approaching peace.

It is a known fact, that in the year 1717, cardinal Alberoni, prime minister to Philip V. of Spain, and baron Gortz, who had gained an entire ascendant over the mind of Charles XII. had concerted a project to change the face of affairs in Europe, by effecting a reconciliation between this last prince and the czar, driving George I. from the English throne, and replacing Stanislaus on that of Poland, while cardinal Alberoni was to procure the regency of France for his master Philip. Gortz, as has been already observed, had opened his mind on this head to the czar himself. Alberoni had begun a negotiation with prince Kourakin, the czar's ambassador at the Hague, by means of the Spanish ambassador, Baretti Landi, a native of Mantua, who had, like the cardinal, quitted his own country to live in Spain.

Thus a set of foreigners were about to overturn the general system, for masters under whose dominion they were not born, or rather for themselves. Charles XII. gave into all these projects, and the czar contented himself with examining them in private. Since the year 1716 he had made only feeble efforts against Sweden, and those rather with a view to oblige that kingdom to purchase peace by restoring those places it had taken in the course of the war, than with an intent to crush it altogether.

The baron Gortz, ever active and indefatigable in his projects, had prevailed on the czar to send plenipotentiaries to the island of Oeland to set on foot a treaty of peace. Bruce, a Scotchman, and grand master of the ordnance in Russia, and the famous Osterman, who was afterwards at the head of affairs, arrived at the place appointed for the congress exactly at the time that the czarowitz was put under arrest at Moscow. Gortz and Gillembourg were already there on the part of Charles XII. both impatient to bring about a reconciliation between that prince and Peter, and to revenge themselves on the king of England. It was an extraordinary circumstance that there should be a congress, and no cessation of arms. The czar's fleet still continued cruising on the coasts of Sweden, and taking the ships of that nation. Peter thought by keeping up hostilities to hasten the conclusion of a peace, of which he knew the Swedes stood greatly in need, and which must prove highly glorious to the conqueror.

Notwithstanding the little hostilities which still continued, every thing bespoke the speedy approach of peace. The preliminaries began by mutual acts of generosity, which produce stronger effects than many hand-writings. The czar sent back without ransom marshal Erenschild, whom he had taken prisoner with his own hands, and Charles in return did the same by Trubetskoy and Gallowin, who had continued prisoners in Sweden ever since the battle of Narva.

The negotiations now advanced apace, and a total change was going to be made in the affairs of the North. Gortz proposed to the czar to put the duchy of Mecklenburg into his hands. Duke Charles, its sovereign, who had married a daughter of czar John, Peter's elder brother, was at variance with the nobility of the country, who had taken arms against him. And Peter, who looked upon that prince as his brother-in-law, had an army in Mecklenburg ready to espouse his cause. The king of England, elector of Hanover, declared on the side of the nobles. Here was another opportunity of mortifying the king of England, by putting Peter in possession of Mecklenburg, who, being already master of Livonia, would by this means, in a short time, become more powerful in Germany than any of its electors. The duchy of Courland was to be given to the duke of Mecklenburg, as an equivalent for his own, together with a part of Prussia at the expense of Poland, who was to have Stanislaus again for her king. Bremen and Verden were to revert to Sweden; but these provinces could not be wrested out of the hands of the king of England but by force of arms; accordingly Gortz's project was (as we have already said) to effect a firm union between Peter and Charles XII., and that not only by the bands of peace, but by an offensive alliance, in which case they were jointly to send an army into Scotland. Charles XII. after having made himself master of Norway, was to make a descent on Great Britain, and he fondly imagined he should be able to set a new sovereign on the throne of those kingdoms, after having replaced one of his own choosing on that of Poland. Cardinal Alberoni promised both Peter and Charles to furnish them with subsidies. The fall of the king of England would, it was supposed, draw with it that of his ally, the regent of France, who being thus deprived of all support, was to fall a victim to the victorious arms of Spain, and the discontent of the French nation.

Alberoni and Gortz now thought themselves secure of totally overturning the system of Europe, when a cannon ball from the bastions of Frederickshal in Norway confounded all their mighty projects. Charles XII. was killed, the Spanish fleet was beaten by that of England, the conspiracy which had been formed in France was discovered and quelled, Alberoni was driven out of Spain, and Gortz was beheaded at Stockholm; and of all this formidable league, so lately made, the czar alone retained his credit, who by not having put himself in the power of any one, gave law to all his neighbours.

At the death of Charles XII. there was a total change of measures in Sweden. Charles had governed with a despotic power, and his sister Ulrica was elected Queen on express condition of renouncing arbitrary government. Charles intended to form an alliance with the czar against England and its allies, and the new government of Sweden now joined those allies against the czar.

The congress at Oeland, however, was not broken up; but the Swedes, now in league with the English, flattered themselves that the fleets of that nation sent into the Baltic would procure them a more advantageous peace. A body of Hanoverian troops entered the dominions of the duke of Mecklenburg (Feb. 1716.), but were soon driven from thence by the czar's forces.

Peter likewise had a body of troops in Poland, which kept in awe both the party of Augustus, and that of Stanislaus; and as to Sweden, he had a fleet always ready, either to make a descent on their coasts, or to oblige the Swedish government to hasten matters in the congress. This fleet consisted of twelve large ships of the line, and several lesser ones, besides frigates and galleys. The czar served on board this fleet as vice-admiral, under the command of admiral Apraxin.

A part of this fleet signalized itself in the beginning against a Swedish squadron, and, after an obstinate engagement, took one ship of the line, and two frigates. Peter, who constantly endeavoured, by every possible means, to encourage and improve the navy he had been at so much pains to establish, gave, on this occasion, sixty thousand French livres¹¹⁰ in money among the officers of this squadron, with several gold medals, besides conferring marks of honour on those who principally distinguished themselves.

About this time also the English fleet under admiral Norris came up the Baltic, in order to favour the Swedes. Peter, who well knew how far he could depend on his new navy, was not to be frightened by the English, but boldly kept the sea, and sent to know of the English admiral if he was come only as a friend to the Swedes, or as an enemy to Russia? The admiral returned for answer, that he had not as yet any positive orders from his court on that head: however Peter, notwithstanding this equivocal reply, continued to keep the sea with his fleet.

The English fleet, which in fact was come thither only to shew itself, and thereby induce the czar to grant more favourable conditions of peace to the Swedes, went to Copenhagen, and the Russians made some descents on the Swedish coast, and even in the neighbourhood of Copenhagen, (July 1719.) where they destroyed some copper mines, burnt about fifteen thousand houses, and did mischief enough to make the Swedes heartily wish for a speedy conclusion of the peace.

Accordingly the new queen of Sweden pressed a renewal of the negotiations; Osterman himself was sent to Stockholm, and matters continued in this situation during the whole of the year 1719.

The following year the prince of Hesse, husband to the queen of Sweden, and now become king, in virtue of her having yielded up the sovereign power in his favour, began his reign by sending a minister to the court of Petersburg, in order to hasten the so much desired peace; but the war was still carried on in the midst of these negotiations.

The English fleet joined that of the Swedes, but did not yet commit any hostilities, as there was no open rupture between the courts of Russia and England, and admiral Norris even offered his master's mediation towards bringing about a peace; but as this offer was made with arms in hand, it rather retarded than facilitated the negotiations. The coasts of Sweden, and those of the new Russian provinces in the Baltic, are so situated, that the former lay open to every insult, while the latter are secured by their difficult access. This was clearly seen when admiral Norris, after having thrown off the mask, (June 1720.) made a descent in conjunction with the Swedish fleet on a little island in the province of Esthonia, called Narguen, which belonged to the czar, where they only burnt a peasant's house; but the Russians at the same time made a descent near Wasa, and burnt forty-one villages, and upwards of one thousand houses, and did an infinite deal of damage to the country round about. Prince Galitzin boarded and took four Swedish frigates, and the English admiral seemed to have come only to be spectator of that pitch of glory to which the czar had raised his infant navy; for he had but just shewn himself in those seas, when the Swedish frigates were carried in triumph into the harbour of Cronslot before Petersburg.¹¹¹ On this occasions methinks the English did too much if they came only as mediators, and too little if as enemies.

Nov. 1720.] At length, the new king of Sweden demanded a cessation of arms; and as he found the menaces of the English had stood him in no stead, he had recourse to the duke of Orleans, the French regent; and this prince, at once an ally of Russia and Sweden, had the honour of effecting a reconciliation between them. (Feb. 1721.) He sent Campredon, his plenipotentiary, to the court of Petersburg, and from thence to that of Stockholm. A congress was opened at Nystadt,¹¹² but the czar would not agree to a cessation of arms till matters were on the point of being concluded and the plenipotentiaries ready to sign. He had an army in Finland ready to subdue the rest of that province, and his fleets were continually threatening the Swedish coasts, so that he seemed absolute master of dictating the terms of peace; accordingly they subscribed to whatever he thought fit to demand. By this treaty he was to remain in perpetual possession of all that his arms had conquered, from the borders of Courland to the extremity of the gulf of Finland, and from thence again of the whole extent of the country of Kexholm, and that narrow slip of Finland which stretches out to the northward of the neighbourhood of Kexholm; so that he remained master of all Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Carelia, with the country of Wybourg, and the neighbouring isles, which secured to him the sovereignty of the sea, as likewise of the isles of Oessel, Dago, Mona, and several others: the whole forming an extent of three thousand leagues of country, of unequal breadth, and which altogether made a large kingdom, that proved the reward of twenty years' immense pains and labour.

The peace was signed at Nystadt the 10th September, 1721, N. S. by the Russian minister Osterman, and general Bruce.

Peter was the more rejoiced at that event, as it freed him from the necessity of keeping such large armies on the frontiers of Sweden, as also from any apprehensions on the part of England, or of the neighbouring states, and left him at full liberty to exert his whole attention to the modelling of his empire, in which he had already made so successful a beginning, and to cherish arts and commerce, which he had introduced among his subjects, at the expense of infinite labour and industry.