August 19, 2025 • 28 mins
Few figures in history are as renowned as Peter the Great, often hailed as the architect of modern Russian civilization. His legacy captures the imagination of many, particularly young people, largely due to his adventurous journey to Holland. There, he immersed himself in the world of shipbuilding, even rolling up his sleeves to work in a local shipyard. The very workshop where Peter honed his skills still stands in Saardam, near Amsterdam, albeit in a state of decay. To protect this historical gem, it has been encased in a larger brick structure, drawing curious visitors from around the globe each year. The captivating story of Peter the Great, underscored by his hands-on approach to learning, offers profound insights and lessons for everyone.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter fifteen of Peter the Great. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
by Anno Simon. Peter the Great by Jacob Abbott, Chapter fifteen,
(00:23):
The Prince Alexis sixteen ninety to seventeen sixteen. The reader
will perhaps recollect that Peter had a son by his
first wife, an account of whose birth was given in
the first part of its volume. The name of this
son was Alexis, and he was destined to become the
hero of a most dreadful tragedy. The narrative of it
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forms a very dark and melancholy chapter in the history
of his father's reign. Alexis was born in the year
sixteen ninety. In the early part of his life, his
father took great interest in him and made him the
center of a great miss any ambitious hopes and projects.
Of course, he expected that Alexis would be his successor
on the imperial throne, and he took great interest in
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qualifying him for the duties that would devolve upon him
in that exalted station. While he was a child, his
father was proud of him as his son and heir,
and as he grew up, he hoped that he would
inherit his own ambition and energy, and he took great
pains to inspire him with the lofty sentiments appropriate to
his position, and to train him to a knowledge of
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the art of war. But Alexis had no taste for
these things, and his father could not, in any possible
way induce him to take any interest in them. Whatever
he was idle and spiritless, and nothing could arouse him
to make any exertion. He spent his time in indolence
and in vicious indulgences. These habits had the effect of
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undermining his health and increasing more and more his distaste
for the duties which his father wished him to. Before that,
Carre tried every possible means to produce a change in
the character of his son and to awaken in him
something like an honorable ambition. To this end, he took
Alexis with him in his journeys to foreign countries and
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introduced him to the reigning princes of Eastern Europe, showed
him their capitals, explained to him the various military systems
which were adopted by the different powers, and made him
acquainted with the principal personages in their courts, but all
was of no avail. Alexis could not be aroused to
take an interest in anything but idle, indulgences and vice.
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At length. When Alexis was about twenty years of age,
that is, in the year seventeen ten, his father conceived
the idea of trying the effect of marriage upon him.
So he directed his son to make choice of a wife.
It is not improbable that he himself really selected the lady.
At any rate, he controlled the selection, for Alexis was
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quite indifferent in respect to the affair, and only acceded
to the plan in obedience to his father's commands. The
lady chosen for the bride was a Polish princess named
Charlotta Christina Sophia, Princess of wolfen Butte, and a marriage
contract binding the parties together was executed with all due formality.
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Two years after this marriage contract was formed, the marriage
was celebrated. Alexis was then about twenty two years of
age and the princess eighteen. The wedding, however, was by
no means a joyful one. Alexis had not improved in
character since he had been betrothed it, and his father
continued to be very much displeased with him. Peter was
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at one time so angry as to threaten that if
his son did not reform his evil habits and begin
to show some interest in the performance of his duties,
he would have his head shaved and send him to
a convent, and so make a monk of him. How
far the princess herself was acquainted with the fact in
respect to the character of her husband, it is impossible
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to say, but everybody else knew them very well. The
Emperor was in very bad humor. The prince's father wished
to arrange for a magnificent wedding, but the tire would
not permit it. The ceremony was accordingly performed in a
very quiet and unostentatious way in one of the provincial
towns of Poland, and after it was over, Alexis went
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home with his bride to her paternal domains. The marriage
of Alexis to the Polish princess took place the year
before his father's public marriage with his second wife, the
Empress Catharine. As Peter had anticipated the promises of reform
which Alexis had made on the occasion of his marriage,
failed totally of accomplishment. After remaining a short time in Poland,
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with his wife conducting himself there tolerably well, he set
out on his return to Russia, taking his wife with him.
But no sooner had he got back among his old associates,
then he returned to his evil ways, and soon began
to treat his wife with the greatest neglect and even cruelty.
He provided a separate suite of apartments for her in
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one end of the palace, while he himself occupied the
other end, where he could be at liberty to do
what he pleased without restraint. Sometimes a week would elapse
without his seeing his wife at all. He purchased a
small slave named Afrosinia and brought her into his part
of the palace, and lived with her there in the
most shameless manner, while his neglected wife, far from all
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her friends, alone and almost broken hearted, spent her time
in bitterly lamenting her hard fate and gradily wearing away
her life in sorrow and tears. She was not even
properly provided with the necessary comforts of life. Her rooms
were neglected, and suffered to go out of repair, the
roof led in the rain, and the cold wind in
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the winter penetrated through the ill fitted windows and doors.
Alexis paid no heed to these things, but, leaving his
wife to suffer, spent his time in drinking and carousing
with Aphrosinia and his other companions in vice. During all
this time, the attention of the Tsire was so much
engaged with the affairs of the empire that he could
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not interfere efficiently. Sometimes he would upbraid Alexis for his
undutiful and wicked behavior and threaten him severely, But the
only effect of his remonstrances would be to cause Alexis
to go into the apartment of his wife as soon
as his father had left him and assail her in
the most abusive manner, overwhelming her with rude and violent
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reproaches for having, as he said, made complaints to his
father or told tales, as he called it, and so
having occasioned his father to find fault with him. This
the princess would deny. She would solemnly declare that she
had not made any complaints whatever. Alexis, however, would not
believe her, but would repeat his denunciations, and then go
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away in a rage. This state of things continued for
three or four years. During that time, the princess had
one child, a daughter, and at length the time arrived
when she was to give birth to a son. But
even the approach of such a time of trial did
not awaken any feeling of kind, regard or compassion on
the part of her husband. His neglect still continued. No
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suitable arrangements were made for the princess, and she received
no proper attention during her confinement. The consequence was that
in a few days after the birth of the child,
fever set in, and the princess sank so rapidly under
it that her life was soon dispaired of. When she
found that she was about to die, she asked that
the t Sire might be sent for to come and
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see her. Peter was sick at this time and almost
confined to his bed, but still, let it be remembered,
to his honor, he would not refuse this request. A
bed or litter was placed for him on a sort
of truck, and in this manner he was conveyed to
the palace where the princess was lying. She thanked him
very earnestly for coming to see her, and then begged
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to commit her children and the servants who had come
with her from her native land and who had remained
faithful to her through all her trials, to his protection
and care. She kissed her children and took leave of
them in the most affecting manner, and then placed them
in the arms of the Tsar. The Tsar received them
very kindly. He then bade the mother farewell and went away,
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taking the children with him. All this time the room
in which the princess was lying, the ante chamber, and
all the approaches to the apartment were filled with the
servants and friends of the princes, who mourned her unhappy
fate so deeply that they were unable to control their grief.
They kneeled or lay prostrate on the ground and offered
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unceasing petitions to Heaven to save the lives of their mistress,
mingling their prayers with tears and sobs and bitter lamentation.
The physicians endeavored to persuade the princess to take some
medicines which they had brought, but she threw the vials
away behind the bed, begging the physicians not to torment
her any more, but to let her die in peace,
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as she had no wish to live. She lingered after
this a few days, spending most of her time in prayer,
and then died. At the time of her death, the
princess was not much over twenty years of age. Her
sad and sorrowful fate shows us once more what unfortunately
we too often see exemplified, that something besides high worldly
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position in a husband is necessary to enable the bride
to look forward with any degree of confidence to her
prospects of happiness. When receiving the congratulations of our friends
on her wedding day, The death of his wife produced
no good effect upon the mind of Alexis. At the
funeral that Sara's father addressed him in a very stern
and severe manner in respect to his evil ways, and
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declared to him positively that if he did not at
once reform and thenceforth lead a life more in conformity
with his position and his obligations, he would cut him
off from the inheritance to the crown, even if it
should be necessary on that account to call in some
stranger to be his heir. The communication which the Tsar
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made to his son on this occasion was in writing,
and the terms in which it was expressed were very severe.
It commenced by reciting at length the long and fruitless
efforts which the tarre had made to awaken something like
an honorable ambition in the mind of his son, and
to lead him to reform his habits, and concluded substantially
as follows, how often have I reproached you with the
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obstinacy of your temper and the perverseness of your disposition?
How often even have I corrected you for them? And
now for how many years have I desisted from speaking
any longer of them? But all has been to no purpose.
My reproofs have been fruitless. I have only lost my
time and beaten the air. You do not so much
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as strive to grow better, and all your satisfaction seems
to consist in laziness and inactivity. Having therefore considered all
these things and fully reflected upon them, as I see,
I have not been able to engage you by any
motives to do as you ought. I have come to
the conclusion to lay before you in writing this my
last determination, resolving, however, to wait till a little longer
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before I come to a final execution of my purpose.
In order to give you one more trial to see
whether you will ment or know if you do not,
I am fully resolved to cut you off from the succession.
Do not think that, because I have no other son,
I will not really do this, but only say it
to frighten you. You may rely upon it that I
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will certainly do what I say. For as I spare
not my own life for the good of my country
and the safety of my people, why should I spare you,
who will not take the pains to make your self
worthy of them. I shall much prefer to transmit distrust
to some worthy stranger than to an unworthy son. Signed
with his Majesty's own hand, Peter, the reader will observe
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from the phraseology of these concluding paragraphs what is made
still more evident by the perusal of the whole letter,
that the great ground of Peter's complaint against his son
was not as immorality and wickedness, but as idleness and inefficiency.
If he had shown himself an active and spirited young man,
full of military ardor and of ambition to rule, he
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might probably in his private life have been as vicious
and depraved as he pleased, without exciting his father's displeasure.
But Peter was himself so full of ambition and energy,
and he had formed moreover such vast plans for the
aggrandizement of the Empire, many of which could only be
commenced during his lifetime, and must depend for their full
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accomplishment on the vigor and talent of his sixs. Tessa
that he had set his heart very strongly on making
his son one of the first military men of the age,
and he now lost all patience with him when he
saw him stupidly neglecting the glorious opportunity before him and
throwing away all his advantages in order to spend his
time in ease and indulgence, thus thwarting and threatening to
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render abortive some of his father's favorite and most far
reaching plans. The excuse which Alexis made for his conduct
was the same which bad boys often offer for idleness
and delinquency, namely his ill health. His answer to his
father's letter was as follows. It was not written until
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two or three weeks after his father's letter was received,
and in that interim a son was born to the
Empress Catherine. As related in the last chapter, It is
to this infant son that Alexis eludes in his letter
My Clement, Lord and Father. I have read the writing
your your Majesty gave me on the twenty seventh of
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October seventeen fifteen, after the interment of my late's spouse.
I have nothing to reply to it but that, if
it is your Majesty's pleasure to deprive me of the
Crown of Russia by reason of my inability, your will
be done. I even earnestly request it at Your Majesty's hands,
as I do not think myself fit for the government.
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My memory is much weakened, and without it there is
no possibility of managing affairs. My mind and body are
much decayed by the distempers to which I have been subject,
which renders me incapable of governing so many people who
must necessarily require a more vigorous man at their head
than I am, for which reason I should not aspire
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to the succession of the Crown of Russia after you,
whom God long preserve, even though I had no brother
as I have at present, whom I pray God also
to preserve. Nor will I ever hereafter lay Li blamed
the succession as I call God to witness by a
solemn oath in confirmation, whereof I write and sign this
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letter with my own hand. I give my children into
your hands, and for my part desire no more than
a bare maintenance so long as I live, leaving all
the rest to your consideration and good pleasure, Your most
humble servant and son, alexis that Czar did not immediately
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make any rejoinder to the foregoing communication from his son.
During the fall and winter months of that year, he
was much occupied with public affairs, and his health moreover
was quite infirm. At length, however, about the middle of June,
he wrote to her son as follows, my son, as
my illness hath hitherto prevented me from letting you know
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the resolutions I have taken. With reverence to the answer
you returned to my former letter, I now sent you
my reply. I observe that you there speak of the
succession as though I had need of your consent to
do in that respect what absolutely depends on my own will.
But whence comes it that you make no mention of
your voluntary indolence, inefficiency, and the aversion you constantly expressed
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to public affairs, which I spoke of in a more
particular manner than of your ill health, though the latter
is the only thing you take notice of. I also
expressed my dissatisfaction with your whole conduct and mode of
life for some years past, But of this you are
wholly silent, though I strongly insist upon it. From these things,
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I judge that my fatherly exhortations make no impression upon you.
For this reason, I have determined to write this letter
to you, and it shall be the last. I don't
find that you make any acknowledgment of the obligation you
owe to your father, who gave you life. Have you
assisted him since you came to maturity of years in
his labors and pains? No, certainly the world knows it
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you have not. On the other hand, you blame and
abhor whatever of good I have been able to do
at the expense of my health, for the love I
have borne to my people and for their advantage, and
I have all imaginable reason to believe that you will
destroy it all. In case you should survive me, I
cannot let you continue in this way. Either change your
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conduct and labored to make yourself worthy of the succession,
or else take upon you the monastic vow. I cannot
rest satisfied with your present behavior, especially as I find
that my health is declining. As soon therefore as you
shall have received this my letter, let me have your
answer in writing, or give it to me yourself in person.
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If you do not, I shall at once proceed against
you as a malefactor. Signed Peter to this communication. Alexis
the next day returned the following reply, Most Clement, Lord
and Father. I received yesterday in the morning your letter
of the nineteenth of this month. My indisposition will not
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allow me to write a long answer. I shall enter
upon a monastic life and beg your gracious consent for
so doing, Your most humble servant and son, Alexis. There
is no doubt that there was some good ground for
the complaints which Alexis made with respect to his health.
His original constitution was not vigorous, and he had greatly
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impaired both his mental and physical powers by his visies indulgences. Still,
his excusing himself so much on this ground was chiefly
a pretense, his object being to gain time and prevent
his father from coming to any positive decision, in order
that he might continue his life of indolence and vice
a little longer undisturbed. Indeed, it was said that the
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incapacity to attend to the studies and perform the duties
which his father required of him was mainly due to
his continual drunkenness, which kept him all the time in
a sort of brutal stupor. Nor was the fault wholly
on his side. His father was very harsh and severe
in his treatment of him, and perhaps in the beginning,
made two little allowance for the feebleness of his constitution.
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Neither of the two were sincere in what they said
about Alexis becoming a monk. Peter in threatening to send
him to a monastery only meant to frighten him, and Alexis,
in saying that he wished to go, intended only to
circumvent his father and save himself from being molested by him.
Any More. He knew very well that his becoming a
monk would be the last thing that his father would
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really desire. Besides, Alexis was surrounded by a number of
companions and advisers, most of them lewde and dissolute fellows
like himself, but among them were some much more cunning
and far sighted than he. And it was another their
advice that he acted in all the measures that he took,
and in everything that he said and did in the
course of this quarrel with his father. Among these men
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were several priests who liked the rest. Though priests were
vile and dissolute men, Thesets and Alexis's other advisers told
him that it was perfectly safe in pretending to accede
to his father's plan to send it to a monastery,
for his father would never think of such a thing
as putting the threat in execution. Besides, if he did,
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it would do no harm, for the vows that he
would take, though so utterly irrevocable in the case of
common man, would all cease to be of force in
his case in the event of his father's death and
his succeeding to the throne. And in the meantime he
could go on, they said, taking his ease and pleasure,
and living as yet always done. Many of the persons
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who thus took sides with Alexis and encouraged him in
his opposition to his father, had very deep designs in
so doing. They were of the party who opposed the
improvements and innovations which Peter had introduced, and who had
in former times made the Princess Sofia their head and
rallying point in their opposition to Peter's policy. It almost
always happens, thus, that when in a monarchical country there
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is a party opposed to the policy which the sovereign pursues.
The disaffected person's endeavor if possible to find a head
or leader in some member of the royal family itself,
and if they can gain to their side the one
next in succession to the crown, so much the better.
To this end, it is for their interest to foment
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a quarrel in the royal family, or, if the germ
of a quarrel appears, arising from some domestic or other cause,
to widen the breach as much as possible and avail
themselves with the dissension, to secure the name and the
influence of the prince or princes thus alienated from the
king as their rallying point and center of action. This
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was just the case in the present instance. The old
Muscovite Party as it was called, that is, the party
opposed to the reforms and changes which Peter had made
and to the foreign influences which had introduced into the
realm gathered round Alexis. Some of them, it was said,
began secretly to form conspiracies for deposing Peter, raising Alexis
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nominally to the throne, and restoring the old order of things.
Peter knew all this, and the fears which these rumors
excited in his mind greatly increased his anxiety in respect
to the cause which Alexis was pursuing, and the exasperation
which he felt against his son. Indeed, there was reason
to believe that Alexis himself, so far as he had
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any political opinions, had adopted the views of the malcontents.
It was natural that he should do so, for the
old order of things was much better adapted to the
wishes and desires of a selfish and desolute despot who
only valued his exultation and power for the means of
unlimited indulgence in sensuality and vice, which they afforded. It
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was this supposed bias of Alexis's mind against his father's
policy of reform that Peter referred to in his letter
when he spoke of Alexi's desire to thwart him. In
his measures and undo all that he had done. When
he received a Alexis's letter informing him that he was
ready to enter upon the monastic life whenever his father pleased,
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Peter was for a time at a loss what to do.
He had no intention of taking Alexis at his word,
for in threatening to make a monk of him, he
had only meant to frighten him for a time. Therefore,
after receiving this reply, he did nothing, but only vented
his anger and useless imprecations and mutterings. Peter was engaged
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at this time in very important public affairs arising out
of the wars in which he was engaged with some
foreign nations, and important negotiations which were going on with others.
Not long after receiving the short letter from Alexis last sighted,
he was called upon to leave Russia for a time
to make a journey into Central Europe. Before he went away,
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he called to see Alexis in order to bid him
adieu and to state to him once more what he
called his final determination. Alexis, when he heard that his
father was coming, got into his bed and received him
in that way as if he were really quite sick.
Peter asked him what conclusion he had come to. Alexis replied,
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as before that he wished to enter a monastery, and
that he was ready to do so at any time.
His father remonstrated with him long and earnestly against this resolution.
He represented in strong terms the folly of a young
man like himself, in the prime of his years, and
with such prospects before him, abandoning everything and shutting himself
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up all his days to the gloomy austerities of a
monastic life. And he endeavored to convince him how much
better it would be for him to change its course
of conduct, to enter vigorously upon the fulfillment of his
duties as a son and as a prince, and prepare
himself for the glorious destiny which awaited him on the
Russian throne. Finally, the Czar said that he would give
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him six months longer to consider of it, and then,
bidding him farewell, went away. As soon as he was gone,
Alexis rose from his bed and went away to an
entertainment with some of his companions. He doubtless amused them
during the carousal by relating to them what had taken
place during the interview with his father, and how earnestly
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that Sara had argued against his doing what he had
begun originally, with threatening to make him do that. Tsara's
business called him to Copenhagen. While there he received one
or two letters from Alexis, but there was nothing in
them to denote any change in his intentions, and finally,
toward the end of the summer that Tsar wrote him
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again in the following very severe and decided manner. Copenhagen,
August twenty sixth, seventeen sixteen. My son, your first letter
of the twenty ninth of June and your next of
the thirteenth of July were brought to me, as in
them you speak only of the condition of your health.
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I sent you the present letter to tell you that
A demanded of you your resolution upon the affair of
the succession. When I bade you farewell, you then answered me,
in your usual manner, that you judged yourself incapable of
it by reason of your infirmities, and that you should
choose rather to retire into a convent. I bade you
seriously consider of it again and then send me the
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resolution you should take. I have expected it for these
seven months and yet have heard nothing of you concerning it.
You have had time enough for consideration, and therefore, as
soon as you shall receive my letter, resolve on one
side or on the other. If you determine to apply
yourself to your duties and qualify yourself for the succession,
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I wish you to leave Petersburg and to come to
me here within a week, so as to be here
in time to be present at the opening of the campaign.
But if, on the other hand, you resolve upon a
monastic life, let me know when, where, and on what
day you will execute your resolution, so that my mind
may be at rest and that I may know what
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to expect of you. Send me back your final answer
are by the same courier that shall bring you my letter,
be particular to let me know the day when you
will set out from Petersburg. If you conclude to come
to me, and if not, precisely when you will perform
your vow, I again tell you that I absolutely insist
that you shall determine upon something. Otherwise I shall conclude
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that you are only seeking to gain time in order
that you may spend it in your customary laziness. Peter,
when we consider that Alexis was at this time a
man nearly thirty years of age, and himself the father
of a family, we can easily imagine that language like
this was more adapted to exasperate him and make him
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worse than to win him to his duty. He was,
in fact driven to his species of desperation by it,
and he so far aroused himself from his usual indolence
and stupidity, as the former plan, in connection with some
of his evil advisers, to make his escape from his
father's control entirely by secretly absconding from the country, seeking
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a retreat under the protection of some foreign power. The
manner in which he executed this scheme and the consequences
which finally resulted from it, will be related in the
next chapter. End of Chapter fifteen,
Chapter fifteen of Peter the Great. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
by Anno Simon. Peter the Great by Jacob Abbott, Chapter fifteen,
(00:23):
The Prince Alexis sixteen ninety to seventeen sixteen. The reader
will perhaps recollect that Peter had a son by his
first wife, an account of whose birth was given in
the first part of its volume. The name of this
son was Alexis, and he was destined to become the
hero of a most dreadful tragedy. The narrative of it
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forms a very dark and melancholy chapter in the history
of his father's reign. Alexis was born in the year
sixteen ninety. In the early part of his life, his
father took great interest in him and made him the
center of a great miss any ambitious hopes and projects.
Of course, he expected that Alexis would be his successor
on the imperial throne, and he took great interest in
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qualifying him for the duties that would devolve upon him
in that exalted station. While he was a child, his
father was proud of him as his son and heir,
and as he grew up, he hoped that he would
inherit his own ambition and energy, and he took great
pains to inspire him with the lofty sentiments appropriate to
his position, and to train him to a knowledge of
(01:31):
the art of war. But Alexis had no taste for
these things, and his father could not, in any possible
way induce him to take any interest in them. Whatever
he was idle and spiritless, and nothing could arouse him
to make any exertion. He spent his time in indolence
and in vicious indulgences. These habits had the effect of
(01:54):
undermining his health and increasing more and more his distaste
for the duties which his father wished him to. Before that,
Carre tried every possible means to produce a change in
the character of his son and to awaken in him
something like an honorable ambition. To this end, he took
Alexis with him in his journeys to foreign countries and
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introduced him to the reigning princes of Eastern Europe, showed
him their capitals, explained to him the various military systems
which were adopted by the different powers, and made him
acquainted with the principal personages in their courts, but all
was of no avail. Alexis could not be aroused to
take an interest in anything but idle, indulgences and vice.
(02:38):
At length. When Alexis was about twenty years of age,
that is, in the year seventeen ten, his father conceived
the idea of trying the effect of marriage upon him.
So he directed his son to make choice of a wife.
It is not improbable that he himself really selected the lady.
At any rate, he controlled the selection, for Alexis was
(02:59):
quite indifferent in respect to the affair, and only acceded
to the plan in obedience to his father's commands. The
lady chosen for the bride was a Polish princess named
Charlotta Christina Sophia, Princess of wolfen Butte, and a marriage
contract binding the parties together was executed with all due formality.
(03:21):
Two years after this marriage contract was formed, the marriage
was celebrated. Alexis was then about twenty two years of
age and the princess eighteen. The wedding, however, was by
no means a joyful one. Alexis had not improved in
character since he had been betrothed it, and his father
continued to be very much displeased with him. Peter was
(03:42):
at one time so angry as to threaten that if
his son did not reform his evil habits and begin
to show some interest in the performance of his duties,
he would have his head shaved and send him to
a convent, and so make a monk of him. How
far the princess herself was acquainted with the fact in
respect to the character of her husband, it is impossible
(04:02):
to say, but everybody else knew them very well. The
Emperor was in very bad humor. The prince's father wished
to arrange for a magnificent wedding, but the tire would
not permit it. The ceremony was accordingly performed in a
very quiet and unostentatious way in one of the provincial
towns of Poland, and after it was over, Alexis went
(04:25):
home with his bride to her paternal domains. The marriage
of Alexis to the Polish princess took place the year
before his father's public marriage with his second wife, the
Empress Catharine. As Peter had anticipated the promises of reform
which Alexis had made on the occasion of his marriage,
failed totally of accomplishment. After remaining a short time in Poland,
(04:49):
with his wife conducting himself there tolerably well, he set
out on his return to Russia, taking his wife with him.
But no sooner had he got back among his old associates,
then he returned to his evil ways, and soon began
to treat his wife with the greatest neglect and even cruelty.
He provided a separate suite of apartments for her in
(05:10):
one end of the palace, while he himself occupied the
other end, where he could be at liberty to do
what he pleased without restraint. Sometimes a week would elapse
without his seeing his wife at all. He purchased a
small slave named Afrosinia and brought her into his part
of the palace, and lived with her there in the
most shameless manner, while his neglected wife, far from all
(05:34):
her friends, alone and almost broken hearted, spent her time
in bitterly lamenting her hard fate and gradily wearing away
her life in sorrow and tears. She was not even
properly provided with the necessary comforts of life. Her rooms
were neglected, and suffered to go out of repair, the
roof led in the rain, and the cold wind in
(05:56):
the winter penetrated through the ill fitted windows and doors.
Alexis paid no heed to these things, but, leaving his
wife to suffer, spent his time in drinking and carousing
with Aphrosinia and his other companions in vice. During all
this time, the attention of the Tsire was so much
engaged with the affairs of the empire that he could
(06:17):
not interfere efficiently. Sometimes he would upbraid Alexis for his
undutiful and wicked behavior and threaten him severely, But the
only effect of his remonstrances would be to cause Alexis
to go into the apartment of his wife as soon
as his father had left him and assail her in
the most abusive manner, overwhelming her with rude and violent
(06:38):
reproaches for having, as he said, made complaints to his
father or told tales, as he called it, and so
having occasioned his father to find fault with him. This
the princess would deny. She would solemnly declare that she
had not made any complaints whatever. Alexis, however, would not
believe her, but would repeat his denunciations, and then go
(06:59):
away in a rage. This state of things continued for
three or four years. During that time, the princess had
one child, a daughter, and at length the time arrived
when she was to give birth to a son. But
even the approach of such a time of trial did
not awaken any feeling of kind, regard or compassion on
the part of her husband. His neglect still continued. No
(07:23):
suitable arrangements were made for the princess, and she received
no proper attention during her confinement. The consequence was that
in a few days after the birth of the child,
fever set in, and the princess sank so rapidly under
it that her life was soon dispaired of. When she
found that she was about to die, she asked that
the t Sire might be sent for to come and
(07:45):
see her. Peter was sick at this time and almost
confined to his bed, but still, let it be remembered,
to his honor, he would not refuse this request. A
bed or litter was placed for him on a sort
of truck, and in this manner he was conveyed to
the palace where the princess was lying. She thanked him
very earnestly for coming to see her, and then begged
(08:07):
to commit her children and the servants who had come
with her from her native land and who had remained
faithful to her through all her trials, to his protection
and care. She kissed her children and took leave of
them in the most affecting manner, and then placed them
in the arms of the Tsar. The Tsar received them
very kindly. He then bade the mother farewell and went away,
(08:30):
taking the children with him. All this time the room
in which the princess was lying, the ante chamber, and
all the approaches to the apartment were filled with the
servants and friends of the princes, who mourned her unhappy
fate so deeply that they were unable to control their grief.
They kneeled or lay prostrate on the ground and offered
(08:51):
unceasing petitions to Heaven to save the lives of their mistress,
mingling their prayers with tears and sobs and bitter lamentation.
The physicians endeavored to persuade the princess to take some
medicines which they had brought, but she threw the vials
away behind the bed, begging the physicians not to torment
her any more, but to let her die in peace,
(09:13):
as she had no wish to live. She lingered after
this a few days, spending most of her time in prayer,
and then died. At the time of her death, the
princess was not much over twenty years of age. Her
sad and sorrowful fate shows us once more what unfortunately
we too often see exemplified, that something besides high worldly
(09:35):
position in a husband is necessary to enable the bride
to look forward with any degree of confidence to her
prospects of happiness. When receiving the congratulations of our friends
on her wedding day, The death of his wife produced
no good effect upon the mind of Alexis. At the
funeral that Sara's father addressed him in a very stern
and severe manner in respect to his evil ways, and
(09:58):
declared to him positively that if he did not at
once reform and thenceforth lead a life more in conformity
with his position and his obligations, he would cut him
off from the inheritance to the crown, even if it
should be necessary on that account to call in some
stranger to be his heir. The communication which the Tsar
(10:18):
made to his son on this occasion was in writing,
and the terms in which it was expressed were very severe.
It commenced by reciting at length the long and fruitless
efforts which the tarre had made to awaken something like
an honorable ambition in the mind of his son, and
to lead him to reform his habits, and concluded substantially
as follows, how often have I reproached you with the
(10:42):
obstinacy of your temper and the perverseness of your disposition?
How often even have I corrected you for them? And
now for how many years have I desisted from speaking
any longer of them? But all has been to no purpose.
My reproofs have been fruitless. I have only lost my
time and beaten the air. You do not so much
(11:04):
as strive to grow better, and all your satisfaction seems
to consist in laziness and inactivity. Having therefore considered all
these things and fully reflected upon them, as I see,
I have not been able to engage you by any
motives to do as you ought. I have come to
the conclusion to lay before you in writing this my
last determination, resolving, however, to wait till a little longer
(11:28):
before I come to a final execution of my purpose.
In order to give you one more trial to see
whether you will ment or know if you do not,
I am fully resolved to cut you off from the succession.
Do not think that, because I have no other son,
I will not really do this, but only say it
to frighten you. You may rely upon it that I
(11:49):
will certainly do what I say. For as I spare
not my own life for the good of my country
and the safety of my people, why should I spare you,
who will not take the pains to make your self
worthy of them. I shall much prefer to transmit distrust
to some worthy stranger than to an unworthy son. Signed
with his Majesty's own hand, Peter, the reader will observe
(12:13):
from the phraseology of these concluding paragraphs what is made
still more evident by the perusal of the whole letter,
that the great ground of Peter's complaint against his son
was not as immorality and wickedness, but as idleness and inefficiency.
If he had shown himself an active and spirited young man,
full of military ardor and of ambition to rule, he
(12:36):
might probably in his private life have been as vicious
and depraved as he pleased, without exciting his father's displeasure.
But Peter was himself so full of ambition and energy,
and he had formed moreover such vast plans for the
aggrandizement of the Empire, many of which could only be
commenced during his lifetime, and must depend for their full
(12:57):
accomplishment on the vigor and talent of his sixs. Tessa
that he had set his heart very strongly on making
his son one of the first military men of the age,
and he now lost all patience with him when he
saw him stupidly neglecting the glorious opportunity before him and
throwing away all his advantages in order to spend his
time in ease and indulgence, thus thwarting and threatening to
(13:21):
render abortive some of his father's favorite and most far
reaching plans. The excuse which Alexis made for his conduct
was the same which bad boys often offer for idleness
and delinquency, namely his ill health. His answer to his
father's letter was as follows. It was not written until
(13:42):
two or three weeks after his father's letter was received,
and in that interim a son was born to the
Empress Catherine. As related in the last chapter, It is
to this infant son that Alexis eludes in his letter
My Clement, Lord and Father. I have read the writing
your your Majesty gave me on the twenty seventh of
(14:02):
October seventeen fifteen, after the interment of my late's spouse.
I have nothing to reply to it but that, if
it is your Majesty's pleasure to deprive me of the
Crown of Russia by reason of my inability, your will
be done. I even earnestly request it at Your Majesty's hands,
as I do not think myself fit for the government.
(14:24):
My memory is much weakened, and without it there is
no possibility of managing affairs. My mind and body are
much decayed by the distempers to which I have been subject,
which renders me incapable of governing so many people who
must necessarily require a more vigorous man at their head
than I am, for which reason I should not aspire
(14:45):
to the succession of the Crown of Russia after you,
whom God long preserve, even though I had no brother
as I have at present, whom I pray God also
to preserve. Nor will I ever hereafter lay Li blamed
the succession as I call God to witness by a
solemn oath in confirmation, whereof I write and sign this
(15:07):
letter with my own hand. I give my children into
your hands, and for my part desire no more than
a bare maintenance so long as I live, leaving all
the rest to your consideration and good pleasure, Your most
humble servant and son, alexis that Czar did not immediately
(15:28):
make any rejoinder to the foregoing communication from his son.
During the fall and winter months of that year, he
was much occupied with public affairs, and his health moreover
was quite infirm. At length, however, about the middle of June,
he wrote to her son as follows, my son, as
my illness hath hitherto prevented me from letting you know
(15:50):
the resolutions I have taken. With reverence to the answer
you returned to my former letter, I now sent you
my reply. I observe that you there speak of the
succession as though I had need of your consent to
do in that respect what absolutely depends on my own will.
But whence comes it that you make no mention of
your voluntary indolence, inefficiency, and the aversion you constantly expressed
(16:13):
to public affairs, which I spoke of in a more
particular manner than of your ill health, though the latter
is the only thing you take notice of. I also
expressed my dissatisfaction with your whole conduct and mode of
life for some years past, But of this you are
wholly silent, though I strongly insist upon it. From these things,
(16:33):
I judge that my fatherly exhortations make no impression upon you.
For this reason, I have determined to write this letter
to you, and it shall be the last. I don't
find that you make any acknowledgment of the obligation you
owe to your father, who gave you life. Have you
assisted him since you came to maturity of years in
his labors and pains? No, certainly the world knows it
(16:57):
you have not. On the other hand, you blame and
abhor whatever of good I have been able to do
at the expense of my health, for the love I
have borne to my people and for their advantage, and
I have all imaginable reason to believe that you will
destroy it all. In case you should survive me, I
cannot let you continue in this way. Either change your
(17:18):
conduct and labored to make yourself worthy of the succession,
or else take upon you the monastic vow. I cannot
rest satisfied with your present behavior, especially as I find
that my health is declining. As soon therefore as you
shall have received this my letter, let me have your
answer in writing, or give it to me yourself in person.
(17:40):
If you do not, I shall at once proceed against
you as a malefactor. Signed Peter to this communication. Alexis
the next day returned the following reply, Most Clement, Lord
and Father. I received yesterday in the morning your letter
of the nineteenth of this month. My indisposition will not
(18:01):
allow me to write a long answer. I shall enter
upon a monastic life and beg your gracious consent for
so doing, Your most humble servant and son, Alexis. There
is no doubt that there was some good ground for
the complaints which Alexis made with respect to his health.
His original constitution was not vigorous, and he had greatly
(18:23):
impaired both his mental and physical powers by his visies indulgences. Still,
his excusing himself so much on this ground was chiefly
a pretense, his object being to gain time and prevent
his father from coming to any positive decision, in order
that he might continue his life of indolence and vice
a little longer undisturbed. Indeed, it was said that the
(18:46):
incapacity to attend to the studies and perform the duties
which his father required of him was mainly due to
his continual drunkenness, which kept him all the time in
a sort of brutal stupor. Nor was the fault wholly
on his side. His father was very harsh and severe
in his treatment of him, and perhaps in the beginning,
made two little allowance for the feebleness of his constitution.
(19:08):
Neither of the two were sincere in what they said
about Alexis becoming a monk. Peter in threatening to send
him to a monastery only meant to frighten him, and Alexis,
in saying that he wished to go, intended only to
circumvent his father and save himself from being molested by him.
Any More. He knew very well that his becoming a
monk would be the last thing that his father would
(19:30):
really desire. Besides, Alexis was surrounded by a number of
companions and advisers, most of them lewde and dissolute fellows
like himself, but among them were some much more cunning
and far sighted than he. And it was another their
advice that he acted in all the measures that he took,
and in everything that he said and did in the
course of this quarrel with his father. Among these men
(19:53):
were several priests who liked the rest. Though priests were
vile and dissolute men, Thesets and Alexis's other advisers told
him that it was perfectly safe in pretending to accede
to his father's plan to send it to a monastery,
for his father would never think of such a thing
as putting the threat in execution. Besides, if he did,
(20:14):
it would do no harm, for the vows that he
would take, though so utterly irrevocable in the case of
common man, would all cease to be of force in
his case in the event of his father's death and
his succeeding to the throne. And in the meantime he
could go on, they said, taking his ease and pleasure,
and living as yet always done. Many of the persons
(20:36):
who thus took sides with Alexis and encouraged him in
his opposition to his father, had very deep designs in
so doing. They were of the party who opposed the
improvements and innovations which Peter had introduced, and who had
in former times made the Princess Sofia their head and
rallying point in their opposition to Peter's policy. It almost
always happens, thus, that when in a monarchical country there
(21:00):
is a party opposed to the policy which the sovereign pursues.
The disaffected person's endeavor if possible to find a head
or leader in some member of the royal family itself,
and if they can gain to their side the one
next in succession to the crown, so much the better.
To this end, it is for their interest to foment
(21:21):
a quarrel in the royal family, or, if the germ
of a quarrel appears, arising from some domestic or other cause,
to widen the breach as much as possible and avail
themselves with the dissension, to secure the name and the
influence of the prince or princes thus alienated from the
king as their rallying point and center of action. This
(21:41):
was just the case in the present instance. The old
Muscovite Party as it was called, that is, the party
opposed to the reforms and changes which Peter had made
and to the foreign influences which had introduced into the
realm gathered round Alexis. Some of them, it was said,
began secretly to form conspiracies for deposing Peter, raising Alexis
(22:03):
nominally to the throne, and restoring the old order of things.
Peter knew all this, and the fears which these rumors
excited in his mind greatly increased his anxiety in respect
to the cause which Alexis was pursuing, and the exasperation
which he felt against his son. Indeed, there was reason
to believe that Alexis himself, so far as he had
(22:24):
any political opinions, had adopted the views of the malcontents.
It was natural that he should do so, for the
old order of things was much better adapted to the
wishes and desires of a selfish and desolute despot who
only valued his exultation and power for the means of
unlimited indulgence in sensuality and vice, which they afforded. It
(22:46):
was this supposed bias of Alexis's mind against his father's
policy of reform that Peter referred to in his letter
when he spoke of Alexi's desire to thwart him. In
his measures and undo all that he had done. When
he received a Alexis's letter informing him that he was
ready to enter upon the monastic life whenever his father pleased,
(23:06):
Peter was for a time at a loss what to do.
He had no intention of taking Alexis at his word,
for in threatening to make a monk of him, he
had only meant to frighten him for a time. Therefore,
after receiving this reply, he did nothing, but only vented
his anger and useless imprecations and mutterings. Peter was engaged
(23:26):
at this time in very important public affairs arising out
of the wars in which he was engaged with some
foreign nations, and important negotiations which were going on with others.
Not long after receiving the short letter from Alexis last sighted,
he was called upon to leave Russia for a time
to make a journey into Central Europe. Before he went away,
(23:48):
he called to see Alexis in order to bid him
adieu and to state to him once more what he
called his final determination. Alexis, when he heard that his
father was coming, got into his bed and received him
in that way as if he were really quite sick.
Peter asked him what conclusion he had come to. Alexis replied,
(24:09):
as before that he wished to enter a monastery, and
that he was ready to do so at any time.
His father remonstrated with him long and earnestly against this resolution.
He represented in strong terms the folly of a young
man like himself, in the prime of his years, and
with such prospects before him, abandoning everything and shutting himself
(24:29):
up all his days to the gloomy austerities of a
monastic life. And he endeavored to convince him how much
better it would be for him to change its course
of conduct, to enter vigorously upon the fulfillment of his
duties as a son and as a prince, and prepare
himself for the glorious destiny which awaited him on the
Russian throne. Finally, the Czar said that he would give
(24:50):
him six months longer to consider of it, and then,
bidding him farewell, went away. As soon as he was gone,
Alexis rose from his bed and went away to an
entertainment with some of his companions. He doubtless amused them
during the carousal by relating to them what had taken
place during the interview with his father, and how earnestly
(25:11):
that Sara had argued against his doing what he had
begun originally, with threatening to make him do that. Tsara's
business called him to Copenhagen. While there he received one
or two letters from Alexis, but there was nothing in
them to denote any change in his intentions, and finally,
toward the end of the summer that Tsar wrote him
(25:31):
again in the following very severe and decided manner. Copenhagen,
August twenty sixth, seventeen sixteen. My son, your first letter
of the twenty ninth of June and your next of
the thirteenth of July were brought to me, as in
them you speak only of the condition of your health.
(25:53):
I sent you the present letter to tell you that
A demanded of you your resolution upon the affair of
the succession. When I bade you farewell, you then answered me,
in your usual manner, that you judged yourself incapable of
it by reason of your infirmities, and that you should
choose rather to retire into a convent. I bade you
seriously consider of it again and then send me the
(26:14):
resolution you should take. I have expected it for these
seven months and yet have heard nothing of you concerning it.
You have had time enough for consideration, and therefore, as
soon as you shall receive my letter, resolve on one
side or on the other. If you determine to apply
yourself to your duties and qualify yourself for the succession,
(26:36):
I wish you to leave Petersburg and to come to
me here within a week, so as to be here
in time to be present at the opening of the campaign.
But if, on the other hand, you resolve upon a
monastic life, let me know when, where, and on what
day you will execute your resolution, so that my mind
may be at rest and that I may know what
(26:57):
to expect of you. Send me back your final answer
are by the same courier that shall bring you my letter,
be particular to let me know the day when you
will set out from Petersburg. If you conclude to come
to me, and if not, precisely when you will perform
your vow, I again tell you that I absolutely insist
that you shall determine upon something. Otherwise I shall conclude
(27:18):
that you are only seeking to gain time in order
that you may spend it in your customary laziness. Peter,
when we consider that Alexis was at this time a
man nearly thirty years of age, and himself the father
of a family, we can easily imagine that language like
this was more adapted to exasperate him and make him
(27:39):
worse than to win him to his duty. He was,
in fact driven to his species of desperation by it,
and he so far aroused himself from his usual indolence
and stupidity, as the former plan, in connection with some
of his evil advisers, to make his escape from his
father's control entirely by secretly absconding from the country, seeking
(28:00):
a retreat under the protection of some foreign power. The
manner in which he executed this scheme and the consequences
which finally resulted from it, will be related in the
next chapter. End of Chapter fifteen,
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