The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

We must not judge of the manners and laws of one nation by those of others. The czar was possessed of the fatal, but incontestable right of punishing his son with death, for the...

Peter instantly set about accomplishing the treaty, by demolishing the fortresses of Samara and Kamienska; but the restoring of Azoph, and the demolition of the port of Taganroc...

Gortz, finding that the governor of Stetin had broke in upon his measures, and would neither hearken to a neutrality nor a sequestration, took it into his head, not only to sequ...

This was all that was done of any consequence in this ruinous expedition. In the mean while Sophia continued to govern in Moscow, while John had only the name of czar; and Peter...

Certain ministers, of more cunning than understanding, have pretended in their writings, that marshal de Villeroi wanted to make the young king of France take the upper hand on...

'I now write to you for the last time, to acquaint you, that you must instantly comply with my orders, which will be communicated to you by Tolstoy and Romanzoff. If you obey, I...

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 woul...

Peter was satisfied with having got possession of Livonia, Esthonia, Carelia, and Ingria, which he looked upon as his own provinces, and to which he had, moreover, added almost...

King William sent his own yacht to meet him, and two ships of war as convoy. In England he observed the same manner of living as at Amsterdam and Saardam; he took an apartment n...

Peter, on the other hand, advanced towards Courland, with a design to penetrate as far as Riga. His plan was to make himself master of Livonia, while Charles XII. was busied in...

Peter I. by the grace of God, czar, emperor of Russia, &c. to all our faithful subjects, ecclesiastical, military, and civil, of all the states of the Russian nation. It is noto...

Art. 12. There shall likewise be immediate restitution made, conformable to the general amnesty regulated and agreed by the second article, to such of the inhabitants of Livonia...

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 c...

On the contrary, the earl of Carlisle, who was ambassador from Charles II. to the czar Alexis, in 1633, complains in his relation that he could not meet with any one convenience...

While both parties were thus engaged, by sea and land, in Livonia, Ingria, and Esthonia, the czar is informed that a Swedish fleet had set sail, in order to destroy Archangel; u...

It has ever been the aim of all legislators to render mankind more sociable; but it is not sufficient to effect this end, that they live together in towns, there must be a mutua...

The following is, almost word for word, the manner in which a certain ambassador to the court of Russia explains these words.--Several ecclesiastics, says he, fond of the ancien...

Sultan Achmet III. declared war against Peter I. not from any regard to the king of Sweden, but, as may readily be supposed, merely from a view to his own interest. The Khan of...

It was therefore evident, that the czar had at length succeeded in disciplining his troops, and this victory of Holozin, while it covered Charles XII. with glory, might have mad...

Charles XII. still obstinate in his resolution not to depart from Bender, tamely submitted his hopes and fortunes to the caprice of a grand vizier; while the czar was threatenin...

Wolodimer, or Wolodomer, therefore completed the work which his grandmother had begun. A Greek was made the first metropolitan, or patriarch of Russia; and from this time the Ru...

The battle now became general. Peter acted as major-general; Baur commanded the right wing, Menzikoff the left, and Sheremeto the centre. The action lasted about two hours: Char...

The grand seignior was on the point of declaring war against the czar, but was prevented by the courts of Vienna and Paris. The emperor of Germany at the same time declared, tha...

This expedition was attended with some considerable difficulties. The place was well fortified, and defended by a numerous garrison. A number of barcolongos, resembling the Turk...

All the accounts and memoirs of those times unanimously agree, that the czar, divided within himself, whether or not he should expose his wife, his army, his empire, and the fru...

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including inconsistent spelling and tenses. Some changes have been made. They are listed at the end...

And here I must relate the accounts given by the Swedish officer Strahlemberg, who was taken prisoner in the battle of Pultowa, and lived fifteen years in Siberia, and made the...

It had ever been the character of the family of Romanow to civilize their state. It was also that of Theodore. We have already remarked, in speaking of Moscow, that this prince...

By virtue of an express ordinance issued by his czarish majesty, and signed by his own hand, on the 13th of June, for the judgment of the czarowitz Alexis Petrowitz, in relation...

[50] A most extraordinary instance of the obstinate attachment of the Russians to their old customs, happened in the time of the czar Bassilowitz, and undoubtedly influenced him...

[115] These he published and distributed along the borders of the Caspian Sea, therein declaring--That he came not upon the frontiers of Persia, with an intention of reducing an...

'Son,' says the czar to him, 'you cannot be ignorant of what is known to all the world, that our people groaned under the oppression of the Swedes, before the beginning of this...