The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

There happened several slight engagements in the course of this year, between the Russians and Swedes, in which the latter did not always prove superior; and even in those where they had the advantage, the Russians improved in the art of war. In short, in little more than twelve months after the battle of Narva, the czar's troops were so well disciplined, that they defeated one of the best generals belonging to the king of Sweden.

Peter was then at Pleskow, from whence he detached numerous bodies of troops, on all sides, to attack the Swedes; who were now defeated by a native of Russia, and not a foreigner. His general, Sheremeto, by a skilful manœuvre, beat up the quarters of the Swedish general, Slipenbak, in several places, near Derpt, on the frontiers of Livonia; and at last obtained a victory over that officer himself. (Jan. 11, 1702.) And now, for the first time, the Russians took from the Swedes four of their colours; which was thought a considerable number.

May.] The lakes Peipus and Ladoga were for some time afterwards the theatres of sea-fights between the Russians and Swedes; in which the latter had the same advantages as by land: namely, that of discipline and long practice; but the Russians had some few successes with their half gallies, at the lake Peipus, and the field-marshal Sheremeto took a Swedish frigate.

By means of this lake, the czar kept Livonia and Esthonia in continual alarms; his gallies frequently landed several regiments in those provinces; who reimbarked whenever they failed of success, or else pursued their advantage: the Swedes were twice beaten in the neighbourhood of Derpt, (June, July,) while they were victorious every where else.

In all these actions the Russians were always superior in number; for this reason, Charles XII. who was so successful in every other place, gave himself little concern about these trifling advantages gained by the czar: but he should have considered, that these numerous forces of his rival were every day growing more accustomed to the business of fighting, and might soon become formidable to himself.

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; upon which he immediately marched thither, and every one was astonished to hear of him on the coasts of the Frozen Sea, when he was thought to be at Moscow. He put the town into a posture of defence, prevented the intended descent, drew the plan of a citadel, called the New Dwina, laid the first stone, and then returned to Moscow, and from thence to the seat of war.

Charles made some alliances in Poland; but the Russians, on their side, made a progress in Ingria and Livonia. Marshal Sheremeto marched to meet the Swedish army, under the command of Slipenbak, gave that general battle near the little river Embac, and defeated him, taking sixteen colours, and twenty pieces of cannon. Norberg places this action on the first of December, 1701; but the journal of Peter the Great, fixes it on the nineteenth of July, 1702.

6th Aug.] After this advantage, the Russian general marched onwards, laid the whole country under contributions, and takes the little town of Marienburg, on the confines of Ingria and Livonia. There are several towns of this name in the north of Europe; but this, though it no longer exists, is more celebrated in history than all the others, by the adventure of the empress Catherine.

This little town, having surrendered at discretion, the Swedes, who defended it, either through mistake or design, set fire to the magazine. The Russians, incensed at this, destroyed the town, and carried away all the inhabitants. Among the prisoners was a young woman, a native of Livonia, who had been brought up in the house of a Lutheran minister of that place, named Gluck, and who afterwards became the sovereign of those who had taken her captive, and who governed Russia by the name of the empress Catherine.

There had been many instances before this, of private women being raised to the throne; nothing was more common in Russia, and in all Asiatic kingdoms, than for crowned heads to marry their own subjects; but that a poor stranger, who had been taken prisoner in the storming of a town, should become the absolute sovereign of that very empire, whither she was led captive, is an instance which fortune never produced before nor since in the annals of the world.

The Russian arms proved equally successful in Ingria: for their half gallies on the lake Ladoga compelled the Swedish fleet to retire to Wibourg,64 a town at the other extremity of this great lake, from whence they could see the siege of the fortress of Notebourg, which was then carrying on by general Sheremeto. This was an undertaking of much greater importance than was imagined at that time, as it might open a communication with the Baltic Sea, the constant aim of Peter the Great.

Notebourg was a strong fortified town, built on an island in the lake Ladoga, which it entirely commands, and by that means, whoever is in possession of it, must be masters of that part of the river Neva, which falls into the sea not far from thence. The Russians bombarded the town night and day, from the 18th of September to the 12th October; and at length gave a general assault by three breaches. The Swedish garrison was reduced to a hundred men only capable of defending the place; and, what is very astonishing, they did defend it, and obtain, even in the breach, an honourable capitulation: moreover, colonel Slipenbak, who commanded there, would not surrender the town, but on condition of being permitted to send for two Swedish officers from the nearest post, to examine the breaches (Oct. 16.), in order to be witnesses for him to the king his master, that eighty-three men, who were all then left of the garrison capable of bearing arms, besides one hundred and fifty sick and wounded, did not surrender to a whole army, till it was impossible for them to fight longer, or to preserve the place. This circumstance alone shews what sort of an enemy the czar had to contend with, and the necessity there was of all his great efforts and military discipline. He distributed gold medals among his officers on this occasion, and gave rewards to all the private men; except a few, whom he punished for running away during the assault. Their comrades spit in their faces, and afterwards shot them to death; thus adding ignominy to punishment.

Notebourg was repaired, and its name changed to that of Shlusselburg, or the City of the Key; that place being the key of Ingria and Finland. The first governor was that Menzikoff, whom we have already mentioned, and who was become an excellent officer, and had merited this honour by his gallant behaviour during the siege. His example served as an encouragement to all who have merit without being distinguished by birth.

After this campaign of 1702, the czar resolved that Sheremeto, and the officers who had signalized themselves, should make a triumphal entry into Moscow. (Dec. 17.) All the prisoners taken in this campaign marched in the train of the victors, who had the Swedish colours and standards carried before them, together with the flag of the Swedish frigate taken on the lake Peipus. Peter assisted in the preparations for this triumphal pomp, as he had shared in the great actions it celebrated.

These shows naturally inspired emulation, otherwise they would have been no more than idle ostentation. Charles despised every thing of this kind, and, after the battle of Narva, held his enemies, their efforts, and their triumphs, in equal contempt.

CHAP. XIII

Reformation at Moscow. – Further successes. – Founding of Petersburg. – The czar takes Narva, &c.

The short stay which the czar made at Moscow, in the beginning of the winter 1703, was employed in seeing all his new regulations put into execution, and in improving the civil as well as the military government. Even his very amusements were calculated to inspire his subjects with a taste for the new manner of living he had introduced amongst them. In this view, he invited all the boyards, and principal ladies of Moscow, to the marriage of one of his sisters, at which every one was required to appear dressed after the ancient fashion. A dinner was served up just in the same manner as those in the sixteenth century.65 By an old superstitious custom, no one was to light a fire on the wedding-day, even in the coldest season. This custom was rigorously observed upon this occasion. The Russians formerly never drank wine, but only mead and brandy; no other liquors were permitted on this day, and, when the guests made complaints, he replied, in a joking manner, 'This was a custom with your ancestors, and old customs are always the best.' This raillery contributed greatly to the reformation of those who preferred past times to the present, at least it put a stop to their murmurings; and there are several nations that stand in need of the like example.

A still more useful establishment than any of the rest, was that of a printing-press, for Russian and Latin types; the implements of which were all brought from Holland. They began by printing translations in the Russian language of several books of morality and polite literature. Ferguson founded schools for geometry, astronomy, and navigation.

Another foundation, no less necessary, was that of a large hospital; not one of those houses which encourage idleness, and perpetuate the misery of the people, but such as the czar had seen at Amsterdam, where old persons and children are employed at work, and where every one within the walls is made useful in some way or other.

He established several manufactories; and, as soon he had put in motion all those arts to which he gave birth in Moscow, he hastened to Woronitz, to give directions for building two ships, of eighty guns each, with long cradles, or caserns, fitted to the ribs of the vessel, to buoy her up, and carry her safely over the shoals and banks of sand that lay about Azoph; an ingenious contrivance, similar to that used by the Dutch in Holland, to get their large ships over the Pampus.

Having made all the necessary preparations against the Turks, he turned his attention, in the next place, against the Swedes. He went to visit the ships that were building at Olonitz (March 30, 1703.), a town between the lakes Ladago and Onega, where he had established a foundry for making all kinds of arms; and, when every thing bore a military aspect, at Moscow flourished all the arts of peace. A spring of mineral waters, which has been lately discovered near Olonitz, has added to the reputation of that place. From thence he proceeded to Shlusselburg, which he fortified.

We have already observed, that Peter was determined to pass regularly through all the military degrees: he had served as lieutenant of bombardiers, under prince Menzikoff, before that favourite was made governor of Shlusselburg, and he now took the rank of captain, and served under marshal Sheremeto.

There was an important fortress near the lake Ladoga, and not far from the river Neva, named Nyantz, or Nya.66 It was necessary to make himself master of this place, in order to secure his conquest, and favour his other designs. He therefore undertook to transport a number of small barks, filled with soldiers, and to drive off the Swedish vessels that were bringing supplies, while Sheremeto had the care of the trenches. (May 22.) The citadel surrendered, and two Swedish vessels arrived, too late to assist the besieged, being both attacked and taken by the czar. His journal says, that, as a reward for his service, 'The captain of bombardiers was created knight of the order of St. Andrew by admiral Golowin, the first knight of that order.'

After the taking of the fort of Nya, he resolved upon building the city of Petersburg, at the mouth of the Neva, upon the gulf of Finland.

The affairs of king Augustus were in a desperate way; the excessive victories of the Swedes in Poland had emboldened his enemies in the opposition; and even his friends had obliged him to dismiss a body of twenty thousand Russians, that the czar had sent him to reinforce his army. They thought, by this sacrifice, to deprive the malcontents of all pretext for joining the king of Sweden: but enemies are disarmed by force, a show of weakness serving only to make them more insolent. These twenty thousand men, that had been disciplined by Patkul, proved of infinite service in Livonia and Ingria, while Augustus was losing his dominions. This reinforcement, and, above all, the possession of Nya, enabled the czar to found his new capital.

It was in this barren and marshy spot of ground, which has communication with the main land only by one way, that Peter laid the foundation of Petersburg, in the sixtieth degree of latitude, and the forty-fourth and a half of longitude. The ruins of some of the bastions of Nya was made use of for the first stones of the foundation.67 They began by building a small fort upon one of the islands, which is now in the centre of the city. The Swedes beheld, without apprehension, a settlement in the midst of a morass, and inaccessible to vessels of burden; but, in a very short time, they saw the fortifications advanced, a town raised, and the little island of Cronstadt, situated over against it, changed, in 1704, into an impregnable fortress, under the cannon of which even the largest fleets may ride in safety.

These works, which seemed to require a time of profound peace, were carried on in the very bosom of war; workmen of every sort were called together, from Moscow, Astracan, Casan, and the Ukraine, to assist in building the new city. Neither the difficulties of the ground, that was to be rendered firm, and raised, the distance of the necessary materials, the unforeseen obstacles, which are for ever starting up in all great undertakings; nor, lastly, the epidemical disorder, which carried off a prodigious number of the workmen, could discourage the royal founder; and, in the space of five months, a new city rose from the ground. It is true, indeed, it was little better than a cluster of huts, with only two brick houses, surrounded by ramparts; but this was all that was then necessary. Time and perseverance accomplished the rest. In less than five months, after the founding of Petersburg, a Dutch ship came to trade there, (Nov.) the captain of which was handsomely rewarded, and the Dutch soon found the way to Petersburg.

While Peter was directing the establishment of this colony, he took care to provide every day for its safety, by making himself master of the neighbouring posts. A Swedish colonel, named Croniort, had taken post on the river Sestra, and thence threatened the rising city. Peter, without delay, marched against him with his two regiments of guards, defeated him, (July 8.) and obliged him to repass the river. Having thus put his town in safety, he repaired to Olonitz,(Sep.) to give directions for building a number of small vessels, and afterwards returned to Petersburg, on board a frigate that had been built by his direction, taking with him six transport vessels, for present use, till the others could be got ready. Even at this juncture he did not forget his ally, the king of Poland, but sent him (Nov.) a reinforcement of twelve thousand foot, and a subsidy in money of three hundred thousand rubles, which make about one million five hundred thousand French livres.68 It has been remarked, that his annual revenue did not exceed then five million rubles; a sum, which the expense of his fleets, of his armies, and of his new establishments, seemed more than sufficient to exhaust. He had, at almost one and the same time, fortified Novogorod, Pleskow, Kiow, Smolensko, Azoph, Archangel, and founded a capital. Notwithstanding all which, he had still a sufficiency left to assist his ally with men and money. Cornelius le Bruine, a Dutchman, who was on his travels, and at that time in Russia, and with whom he frequently conversed very freely, as indeed he did with all strangers, says, that the czar himself assured him, that he had still three hundred thousand rubles remaining in his coffers, after all the expenses of the war were defrayed.

In order to put his infant city of Petersburg out of danger of insult, he went in person to sound the depth of water thereabouts, fixed upon a place for building the fort of Cronstadt; and, after making the model of it in wood with his own hands, he employed prince Menzikoff to put it in execution. From thence he went to pass the winter at Moscow, (Nov. 5.) in order to establish, by degrees, the several alterations he had made in the laws, manners, and customs of Russia. He regulated the finances, and put them upon a new footing. He expedited the works that were carrying on in the Woronitz, at Azoph, and in a harbour which he had caused to be made on the Palus Mæotis, under the fort of Taganrock.

Jan. 1704.] The Ottoman Porte, alarmed at these preparations, sent an embassy to the czar, complaining thereof: to which he returned for answer that he was master in his own dominions, as well as the grand seignior was in Turkey, and that it was no infringement of the peace to render the Russian power respectable on the Euxine Sea.

March 30.] Upon his return to Petersburg, finding his new citadel of Cronstadt, which had been founded in the bosom of the sea, completely finished, he furnished it with the necessary artillery. But, in order to settle himself firmly in Ingria, and entirely to repair the disgrace he had suffered before Narva, he esteemed it necessary to take that city. While he was making preparations for the siege, a small fleet appeared on the lake of Peipus, to oppose his designs. The Russian half galleys went out to meet them, gave them battle, and took the whole squadron, which had on board ninety-eight pieces of cannon. After this victory, the czar lays siege to Narva both by sea and land, (April.) and, which was most extraordinary, he lays siege to the city of Derpt in Esthonia at the same time.

Who would have imagined, that there was a university in Derpt? Gustavus Adolphus had founded one there, but it did not render that city more famous, Derpt being only known by these two sieges. Peter was incessantly going from the one to the other, forwarding the attacks, and directing all the operations. The Swedish general Slipenbak was in the neighbourhood of Derpt, with a body of two thousand five hundred men.

The besiegers expected every instant when he would throw succours into the place; but Peter, on this occasion, had recourse to a stratagem worthy of more frequent imitation: he ordered two regiments of foot, and one of horse, to be clothed in the same uniform, and to carry the same standards and colours as the Swedes: these sham Swedes attack the trenches, (June 27.) and the Russians pretend to be put to flight; the garrison, deceived by appearances, make a sally; upon which the mock combatants join their forces and fall upon the Swedes, one half of whom were left dead upon the place, and the rest made shift to get back to the town. Slipenbak arrives soon after with succours to relieve it, but is totally defeated. At length Derpt was obliged to capitulate, (July 23.) just as the czar was preparing every thing for a general assault.

At the same time Peter met with a considerable check, on the side of his new city of Petersburg; but this did not prevent him either from going on with the works of that place, or from vigorously prosecuting the siege of Narva. It has already been observed, that he sent a reinforcement of troops and money to king Augustus, when his enemies were driving him from his throne; but both these aids proved useless. The Russians having joined the Lithuanians in the interest of Augustus, were totally defeated in Courland by the Swedish general Levenhaupt: (July 31.) and had the victors directed their efforts towards Livonia, Esthonia, and Ingria, they might have destroyed the czar's new works, and baffled all the fruits of his great undertakings. Peter was every day sapping the breast-work of Sweden, while Charles seemed to neglect all resistance, for the pursuit of a less advantageous, though a more brilliant fame.

On the 13th of July, 1704, only a single Swedish colonel, at the head of his detachment, obliged the Polish nobility to nominate a new king, on the field of election, called Kolo, near the city of Warsaw. The cardinal-primate of the kingdom, and several bishops, submitted to a Lutheran prince, notwithstanding the menaces and excommunications of the supreme pontiff: in short, every thing gave way to force. All the world knows in what manner Stanislaus Leczinsky was elected king, and how Charles XII. obliged the greatest part of Poland to acknowledge him.

Peter, however, would not abandon the dethroned king, but redoubled his assistance, in proportion to the necessities of his ally; and, while his enemy was making kings, he beat the Swedish generals one after another in Esthonia and Ingria; from thence he passed to the siege of Narva, and gave several vigorous assaults to the town. There were three bastions, famous at least for their names, called Victory, Honour, and Glory. The czar carried them all three sword-in-hand. The besiegers forced their way into the town, where they pillaged and exercised all those cruelties which were but too customary at that time, between the Swedes and Russians.

August 20.] Peter, on this occasion, gave an example that ought to have gained him the affections of all his new subjects: he ran every where in person, to put a stop to the pillage and slaughter, rescues several women out of the clutches of the brutal soldiery, and, after having, with his own hand, killed two of those ruffians who had refused to obey his orders, he enters the town-house, whither the citizens had ran in crowds for shelter, and laying his sword, yet reeking with blood, upon the table – 'This sword,' said he, 'is not stained with the blood of your fellow citizens, but with that of my own soldiers, which I have spilt to save your lives'.

CHAP. XIV

Peter the Great keeps possession of all Ingria, while Charles XII. is triumphant in other places. – Rise of Menzikoff. – Petersburg secured. – The czar executes his designs notwithstanding the victories of the king of Sweden.69

1704.

Peter being now master of all Ingria, conferred the government of that province upon Menzikoff; and at the same time gave him the title of prince, and the rank of major-general. Pride and prejudice might, in other countries, find means to gainsay, that a pastry cook's boy should be raised to be a general and governor, and to princely dignity; but Peter had already accustomed his subjects to see, without surprise, every thing given to merit, and nothing to mere nobility. Menzikoff, by a lucky accident, had, while a boy, been taken from his original obscurity, and placed in the czar's family,70 where he learnt several languages, and acquired a knowledge of public affairs, both in the cabinet and field; and having found means to ingratiate himself with his master, he afterwards knew how to render himself necessary. He greatly forwarded the works at Petersburg, of which he had the direction; several brick and stone houses were already built, with an arsenal and magazines; the fortifications were completed, but the palaces were not built till some time afterwards.

Peter was scarcely settled in Narva, when he offered fresh succours to the dethroned king of Poland; he promised him a body of troops over and above the twelve thousand men he had already sent him, and actually dispatched general Repnin (Aug. 19.) from the frontiers of Lithuania, with six thousand horse, and the same number of foot. All this while he did not lose sight of his colony of Petersburg: the buildings went on very fast; his navy encreased daily; several ships and frigates were on the stocks at Olmutz; these he took care to see finished, and brought them himself into the harbour of Petersburg.

Oct. 11.] Each time he returned to Moscow, was distinguished by triumphal entries. In this manner did he revisit it this year, from whence he made only one excursion, to be present at the launching of his first ship of eighty guns upon the Woronitz, (Dec. 30.) of which ship he himself had drawn the dimensions the preceding year.

May, 1705.] As soon as the campaign could be opened in Poland, he hastened to the army, which he had sent to the assistance of Augustus, on the frontiers of that kingdom; but, while he was thus supporting his ally, a Swedish fleet put to sea, to destroy Petersburg, and the fortress of Cronslot, as yet hardly finished. This fleet consisted of twenty-two ships of war, from fifty-four to sixty-four guns each, besides six frigates, two bomb-ketches, and two fire-ships. The troops that were sent on this expedition, made a descent on the little island of Kotin; but a Russian colonel, named Tolbogwin, who commanded a regiment there, ordered his soldiers to lie down flat on their bellies, while the Swedes were coming on shore, and then suddenly rising up, they threw in so brisk and well directed a fire, that the Swedes were put into confusion, and forced to retreat with the utmost precipitation to their ships, leaving behind them all their dead, and upwards of three hundred prisoners. (June 7.)