August 19, 2025 • 14 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 (00:00):
Chapter seventeen 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. Peter
the Great by Jacob Abbott, Chapter seventeen, The Trial seventeen
(00:22):
seventeen to seventeen eighteen. As soon as Alexis arrived in
the country, his father issued a manifesto in which he
gave a long and full account of his son's misdemeanors
and crimes, and of the patient and persevering but fruitless
efforts which he himself had made to reclaim him, and
announced his determination to cut him off from the succession
(00:44):
to the crown as holy and hopelessly a reclaimable. This
manifesto was one of the most remarkable documents that history records.
It concluded with deposing Alexis from all his rights a
son and heir to his father, and appointing his younger brother, Peter,
the little son of Catherine, as an inheritor in his stead,
and finally laying the paternal curse upon Alexis if he
(01:07):
ever thereafter pretended to or in any way claimed the
succession of which he had been deprived. This manifesto was
issued as soon as Peter learned that Alexis had arrived
in the country under the charge of the officers who
had been appointed to bring him, and before the Czar
had seen him. Alexis continued his journey to Moscow, where
the Czar then was. When he arrived, he went that
(01:30):
same night to the palace, and there had a long
conference with his father. He was greatly alarmed and overawed
by the anger which his father expressed, and he endeavored
very earnestly, by expressions of penitence and promises of amendment,
to appease him. But it was now too late. The
ire of the Czar was thoroughly aroused, and he could
not be appeased. He declared that he was fully resolved
(01:53):
on opposing his son, as he had announced in his manifesto,
and that the necessary steps for making the act of
deposition in a normal and solemn manner, so as to
give it full legal validity as a measure of state,
would be taken on the following day. It must be
confessed that the agitation and anger which Peter now manifested
were not wholly without excuse for the course which Alexis
(02:14):
had pursued, had been the means of exposing his father
to a great and terrible danger, to that namely, of
a rebellion among his subjects. Peter did not even know
but that such a rebellion was already planned and was
ripe for execution, and that it might not break out
at any time, notwithstanding his having succeeded in recovering possession
of the person of Alexis and in bringing him home.
(02:36):
Of such a rebellion, if one had been planned, the
name of Alexis would have been, of course the watchword
and rallying point, and Peter had a great deal of
ground for apprehension that such a one had been extensively
organized and was ready to be carried into effect. He
immediately set himself at work to ferret out the whole affair, resolving, however,
in the first place, to disable Alexis himself from doing
(02:58):
any further mischief by destroying, finally and forever all claims
on his part to the inheritance of the crown. Accordingly,
on the following morning, before daybreak, the garrison of the
city were put under arms, and a regiment of the
guards was posted around the palace so as to secure
all the gates and avenues, and orders were sent at
(03:18):
the same time to the principal ministers, nobles and councilors
of state to repair to the Great Hall in the castle,
and to the bishops and clergy to assemble in the cathedral.
Everybody knew that the occasion on which they were convened
was that they might witness the disinheriting of the Prince
Imperial by his father in consequence of his vices and crimes,
and in coming together in obedience to the summons, the
(03:39):
minds of all men were filled with solemn awe, like
those of men assembling to witness and execution. When the
appointed hour arrived, the great bell was tolled, and Alexis
was brought into the hall of the castle, where the
nobles were assembled, bound as a prisoner and deprived of
his sword. Czar himself stood at the upper end of
the hall, surrounded by the chief officers of state. Alexis
(04:03):
was brought before him a sea approached. He presented a
writing to his father, and then fell down on his
knees before him, apparently overwhelmed with grief and shame. The
Czar handed the paper to one of his officers, who
stood near, and then asked Alexis what it was that
he desired. Alexis, in reply, begged that his father would
have mercy upon him and spare his life. The Czar
(04:25):
said that he would spare his life and forgive him
for all his treasonable and rebellious acts, on condition that
he would make a full and complete confession, without any
restriction or reserve, of everything connected with his late escape
from the country, explaining fully all the details of the
plan which he had formed, and revealed the names of
all his advisers and accomplices. But if his confession was
(04:45):
not full and complete, if he suppressed or concealed anything
or the name of any person concerned in the affair
or privy to it, then this promise of pardon should
be null and void. The Czar also said that Alexis
must renounce the succession into the crown, and must confirm
the renunciation by a solemn oath and acknowledge it by
signing a declaration in writing to that effect with his
(05:07):
own hand. To all this, Alexis, who seemed overwhelmed with
contrition and anguish, solemnly agreed and declared that he was
ready to make a full and complete confession. The czar
then asked his son who it was that advised him
and aided him in his late escape from the kingdom.
Alexis seemed unwilling to reply to this question in the
midst of such an assemblage, but said something to his
(05:29):
father in a low voice which the others could not hear.
In consequence of what he thus said, his father took
him into an adjoining room, and there conversed with him
in private for a few minutes, and then both returned
together into the public hall. It is supposed that while
they were thus apart, Alexis gave his father the names
of some of those who had aided and abetted him
in his absconding. For immediately afterward, three couriers were dispatched
(05:53):
in three different directions, as if with orders to arrest
the persons who were thus accused. Soon as Alexis and
his father had returned into the hall, the document was
produced which the prince was to sign, renouncing the succession
to the crown. The signature and seal of Alexis were
affixed to this document with all due formality. Then a
(06:14):
declaration was made on the part of the Czar, stating
the reasons which had induced his Majesty to depose his
eldest son from the succession and to appoint his younger son,
Peter in his plays. This being done, all the officers
present were required to make a solemn oath on the Gospels,
and to sign a written declaration, of which several copies
had previously been prepared. Importing that the Czar, having excluded
(06:37):
from the crown his son Alexis, and appointed his son
Peter his successor in his stead, they owned the legality
and binding force of the decree, acknowledged Peter as the
true and rightful heir, and bound themselves to stand by
him with their lives against any or all who should
oppose him, and declared that they never, would, under any
pretense whatsoever, adhere to Alexis or assist him in recovering
(06:58):
the succession. The whole company then repaired to the cathedral,
where the bishops and other ecclesiastics were assembled, and there
the whole body of the clergy solemnly took the same
oath and subscribed the same declaration. The same oath was
also afterward administered to all the officers of the army,
governors of the provinces, and other public functionaries throughout the Empire.
(07:21):
When these ceremonies at the palace and at the cathedral
were concluded, the company dispersed. Alexis was placed in confinement
in one of the palaces in Moscow, and none were
allowed to have access to him, except those whom the
Czar appointed to keep him in charge. Immediately after this,
the necessary proceedings for a full investigation of the whole
affair were commenced in a formal and solemn manner. A
(07:42):
series of questions were drawn up and given to Alexis
that he might make out deliberate answers to them in writing.
Grand courts of investigation and inquiry were convened in Moscow,
the great dignitaries, both of church and state being summoned
from all parts of the Empire to attend them. These
persons came to the capital in great state, and in
going to and fro to attend at the halls of Judgment.
(08:04):
From day to day they moved through the streets with
such a degree of pomp and parade as to attract
great crowds of spectators. As fast as the names were
discovered of persons who were implicated in Alexis's escape or
who were suspected in complicity in it, Officers were despatched
to arrest them. Some were taken from their beds at
midnight without a moment's warning and shut up in dungeons
(08:26):
in a great fortress at Moscow. When questioned, if they
seemed inclined to return evasive answers or to withhold any
information of which the judges thought they were possessed, they
were taken into the torturing room and put to the torture.
One of the first who was arrested was Alexander Kikin,
who had been Alexis's chief confidant and adviser in all
his proceedings. Kiokin had taken extreme precautions to guard against
(08:49):
having his agency and the affair found out, but Alexis
and the answers that he gave to the first series
of questions that were put to him betrayed him. Kikin
was aware of the danger. In order to secure for
himself some chance of escape in case a lecture should
make disclosures implicating him, had bribed a page who was
always in close attendance upon the Tsar to let him
(09:09):
know immediately in case of any movement to arrest him.
The name of this page was Backlanovsky. He was in
the apartment at the time that the Tsar was writing
the orders for Kikin's arrest, standing, as was his wont
behind the chair of the Tzar so as to be
ready at hand to convey messages or to wait upon
his master. He looked over and saw the order which
the Tsar was writing. He immediately contrived some excuse to leave
(09:33):
the apartment, and, hurrying away, he went to the post
house and sent on an express by post to Kikin
at Petersburg to warn him of the danger. But the Tsar,
noticing his absence, sent some one off after him, and
thus his errand at the post house was discovered, but
not until after the express had gone. Another express was
immediately sent off with the order for Kikin's arrest, and
(09:54):
both the couriers arrived in Petersburg very nearly at the
same time. The one, however, who brought the warning, was
a little too late. When he arrived the house of
the Commissioner was surrounded by a guard of fifty grenadiers
and officers were then in Ghikin's apartment, taking him out
of his bed, they put him at once in irons
and took him away, scarcely allowing him time to bid
(10:14):
his wife farewell. The page was, of course arrested and
sent to prison too. A number of other persons, many
of whom were of very high rank, were rested in
a similar manner. The arrival of Alexis at Moscow took
place early in February, and nearly all of February and
March were occupied with these arrests and the proceedings of
the court in trying the prisoners at length. Toward the
(10:38):
end of March, a considerable number, Quikin himself being among them,
were condemned to death and executed in the most dreadful
manner in a great and public square in the center
of Moscow. One was impaled alive, that is, a great
stake was driven through his body into the ground, and
he was left in that situation to die. Others were
broken on the wheel. One a bishop was burnt. The
(11:01):
heads of the principal offenders were afterward cut off and
set up on poles at the four corners of a
square enclosure made for the purpose. Then paled body lying
in the middle, the page who had been bribed by
Kikin was not put to death. His life was spared,
perhaps on account of his youth, but he was very
severely punished by scourging. During all this time, Alexis continued
(11:23):
to be confined to his prison, and he was subjected
to repeated examinations and cross examinations in order to draw
from him not only the whole truth in respect to
his own motives and designs in his flight, but also
such information as might lead to the full development of
the plans and designs of the Party in Russia, who
were opposed to the government of Peter, and who had
designed to make use of the name and position of
(11:44):
Alexis for the accomplishment of their schemes. Alexis had promised
to make a full, incomplete confession, but he did not
do so. In the answers to the series of questions
which were first addressed to him, he confessed as much
as he thought was already known, and endeavors to conceal
the rest. In a short time. However, many things that
he had at first denied or evaded were fully proved
(12:06):
by other testimony. Taking the trial of the prisoners who
have already been referred to. Then Alexis was charged with
the omissions or evasions in his confession which had thus
been made to appear, and asked for an explanation. And
thereupon he made new confessions, acknowledging the newly discovered facts
and excusing himself for not having mentioned them before, by
saying that he had forgotten them, or else that he
(12:28):
was afraid to divulge them for fear of injuring the
persons that would be implicated by them. Thus he went
on contradicting and involving himself more and more by every
fresh confession, until at last his father and all the
judges who had convened to investigate the case ceased to
place any confidence in anything that he said, and lost
almost all sympathy for him in his distress. The examination
(12:51):
was protracted through many months. The result of it, on
the whole was that it was fully proved that there
was a powerful party in Russia posted the reforms and
improvements of the and particularly to the introduction of the
European civilization into the country, who were desirous of affecting revolution,
and who wished to avail themselves of the quarrel between
Alexis and his father to promote their schemes. Alexis was
(13:14):
too much stupefied by his continual drunkenness to take any
very active or intelligent part in these schemes, but he
was more or less distinctly aware of them, and in
the offers which he had made to enter a monastery
and renounce all claims to the crown, he had been
utterly and sincere, his only object having been to blind
his father by means of them and gain time. He
acknowledged that he had hated his father and had wished
(13:35):
for his death, and when he fled to Vienna it
was his intention to remain until he could return and
take possession of the empire in his father's place. He however,
solemnly declared that it was never his intention to take
any steps himself toward that end during his father's lifetime,
though he admitted at last, when the fact had been
pretty well proved against him by other evidence, that in
(13:55):
case an insurrection in his behalf had broken out in
Russia and he had been called upon, he should have
joined the rebels. A great deal of information throwing light
upon the plans of Alexis and of the conspirators in
Russia connected with him, was obtained from the disclosures made
by Aphrostmia. Thus has already been stated she had been
taken by Alexis as a slave and forced against her
(14:17):
will to join herself to him and to follow his fortunes.
He had never admitted her into his confidence, but had
induced her from time to time to act as he desired,
by telling her any falsehood which would serve the purpose.
She consequently was not bound to him by any ties
of honor or affection, and felt herself at liberty to
answer freely all questions which were put to her by
(14:37):
the judges. Her testimony was of great value in many points,
and contributed very essentially towards elucidating the whole affair. End
of Chapter seventeen.
Chapter seventeen 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. Peter
the Great by Jacob Abbott, Chapter seventeen, The Trial seventeen
(00:22):
seventeen to seventeen eighteen. As soon as Alexis arrived in
the country, his father issued a manifesto in which he
gave a long and full account of his son's misdemeanors
and crimes, and of the patient and persevering but fruitless
efforts which he himself had made to reclaim him, and
announced his determination to cut him off from the succession
(00:44):
to the crown as holy and hopelessly a reclaimable. This
manifesto was one of the most remarkable documents that history records.
It concluded with deposing Alexis from all his rights a
son and heir to his father, and appointing his younger brother, Peter,
the little son of Catherine, as an inheritor in his stead,
and finally laying the paternal curse upon Alexis if he
(01:07):
ever thereafter pretended to or in any way claimed the
succession of which he had been deprived. This manifesto was
issued as soon as Peter learned that Alexis had arrived
in the country under the charge of the officers who
had been appointed to bring him, and before the Czar
had seen him. Alexis continued his journey to Moscow, where
the Czar then was. When he arrived, he went that
(01:30):
same night to the palace, and there had a long
conference with his father. He was greatly alarmed and overawed
by the anger which his father expressed, and he endeavored
very earnestly, by expressions of penitence and promises of amendment,
to appease him. But it was now too late. The
ire of the Czar was thoroughly aroused, and he could
not be appeased. He declared that he was fully resolved
(01:53):
on opposing his son, as he had announced in his manifesto,
and that the necessary steps for making the act of
deposition in a normal and solemn manner, so as to
give it full legal validity as a measure of state,
would be taken on the following day. It must be
confessed that the agitation and anger which Peter now manifested
were not wholly without excuse for the course which Alexis
(02:14):
had pursued, had been the means of exposing his father
to a great and terrible danger, to that namely, of
a rebellion among his subjects. Peter did not even know
but that such a rebellion was already planned and was
ripe for execution, and that it might not break out
at any time, notwithstanding his having succeeded in recovering possession
of the person of Alexis and in bringing him home.
(02:36):
Of such a rebellion, if one had been planned, the
name of Alexis would have been, of course the watchword
and rallying point, and Peter had a great deal of
ground for apprehension that such a one had been extensively
organized and was ready to be carried into effect. He
immediately set himself at work to ferret out the whole affair, resolving, however,
in the first place, to disable Alexis himself from doing
(02:58):
any further mischief by destroying, finally and forever all claims
on his part to the inheritance of the crown. Accordingly,
on the following morning, before daybreak, the garrison of the
city were put under arms, and a regiment of the
guards was posted around the palace so as to secure
all the gates and avenues, and orders were sent at
(03:18):
the same time to the principal ministers, nobles and councilors
of state to repair to the Great Hall in the castle,
and to the bishops and clergy to assemble in the cathedral.
Everybody knew that the occasion on which they were convened
was that they might witness the disinheriting of the Prince
Imperial by his father in consequence of his vices and crimes,
and in coming together in obedience to the summons, the
(03:39):
minds of all men were filled with solemn awe, like
those of men assembling to witness and execution. When the
appointed hour arrived, the great bell was tolled, and Alexis
was brought into the hall of the castle, where the
nobles were assembled, bound as a prisoner and deprived of
his sword. Czar himself stood at the upper end of
the hall, surrounded by the chief officers of state. Alexis
(04:03):
was brought before him a sea approached. He presented a
writing to his father, and then fell down on his
knees before him, apparently overwhelmed with grief and shame. The
Czar handed the paper to one of his officers, who
stood near, and then asked Alexis what it was that
he desired. Alexis, in reply, begged that his father would
have mercy upon him and spare his life. The Czar
(04:25):
said that he would spare his life and forgive him
for all his treasonable and rebellious acts, on condition that
he would make a full and complete confession, without any
restriction or reserve, of everything connected with his late escape
from the country, explaining fully all the details of the
plan which he had formed, and revealed the names of
all his advisers and accomplices. But if his confession was
(04:45):
not full and complete, if he suppressed or concealed anything
or the name of any person concerned in the affair
or privy to it, then this promise of pardon should
be null and void. The Czar also said that Alexis
must renounce the succession into the crown, and must confirm
the renunciation by a solemn oath and acknowledge it by
signing a declaration in writing to that effect with his
(05:07):
own hand. To all this, Alexis, who seemed overwhelmed with
contrition and anguish, solemnly agreed and declared that he was
ready to make a full and complete confession. The czar
then asked his son who it was that advised him
and aided him in his late escape from the kingdom.
Alexis seemed unwilling to reply to this question in the
midst of such an assemblage, but said something to his
(05:29):
father in a low voice which the others could not hear.
In consequence of what he thus said, his father took
him into an adjoining room, and there conversed with him
in private for a few minutes, and then both returned
together into the public hall. It is supposed that while
they were thus apart, Alexis gave his father the names
of some of those who had aided and abetted him
in his absconding. For immediately afterward, three couriers were dispatched
(05:53):
in three different directions, as if with orders to arrest
the persons who were thus accused. Soon as Alexis and
his father had returned into the hall, the document was
produced which the prince was to sign, renouncing the succession
to the crown. The signature and seal of Alexis were
affixed to this document with all due formality. Then a
(06:14):
declaration was made on the part of the Czar, stating
the reasons which had induced his Majesty to depose his
eldest son from the succession and to appoint his younger son,
Peter in his plays. This being done, all the officers
present were required to make a solemn oath on the Gospels,
and to sign a written declaration, of which several copies
had previously been prepared. Importing that the Czar, having excluded
(06:37):
from the crown his son Alexis, and appointed his son
Peter his successor in his stead, they owned the legality
and binding force of the decree, acknowledged Peter as the
true and rightful heir, and bound themselves to stand by
him with their lives against any or all who should
oppose him, and declared that they never, would, under any
pretense whatsoever, adhere to Alexis or assist him in recovering
(06:58):
the succession. The whole company then repaired to the cathedral,
where the bishops and other ecclesiastics were assembled, and there
the whole body of the clergy solemnly took the same
oath and subscribed the same declaration. The same oath was
also afterward administered to all the officers of the army,
governors of the provinces, and other public functionaries throughout the Empire.
(07:21):
When these ceremonies at the palace and at the cathedral
were concluded, the company dispersed. Alexis was placed in confinement
in one of the palaces in Moscow, and none were
allowed to have access to him, except those whom the
Czar appointed to keep him in charge. Immediately after this,
the necessary proceedings for a full investigation of the whole
affair were commenced in a formal and solemn manner. A
(07:42):
series of questions were drawn up and given to Alexis
that he might make out deliberate answers to them in writing.
Grand courts of investigation and inquiry were convened in Moscow,
the great dignitaries, both of church and state being summoned
from all parts of the Empire to attend them. These
persons came to the capital in great state, and in
going to and fro to attend at the halls of Judgment.
(08:04):
From day to day they moved through the streets with
such a degree of pomp and parade as to attract
great crowds of spectators. As fast as the names were
discovered of persons who were implicated in Alexis's escape or
who were suspected in complicity in it, Officers were despatched
to arrest them. Some were taken from their beds at
midnight without a moment's warning and shut up in dungeons
(08:26):
in a great fortress at Moscow. When questioned, if they
seemed inclined to return evasive answers or to withhold any
information of which the judges thought they were possessed, they
were taken into the torturing room and put to the torture.
One of the first who was arrested was Alexander Kikin,
who had been Alexis's chief confidant and adviser in all
his proceedings. Kiokin had taken extreme precautions to guard against
(08:49):
having his agency and the affair found out, but Alexis
and the answers that he gave to the first series
of questions that were put to him betrayed him. Kikin
was aware of the danger. In order to secure for
himself some chance of escape in case a lecture should
make disclosures implicating him, had bribed a page who was
always in close attendance upon the Tsar to let him
(09:09):
know immediately in case of any movement to arrest him.
The name of this page was Backlanovsky. He was in
the apartment at the time that the Tsar was writing
the orders for Kikin's arrest, standing, as was his wont
behind the chair of the Tzar so as to be
ready at hand to convey messages or to wait upon
his master. He looked over and saw the order which
the Tsar was writing. He immediately contrived some excuse to leave
(09:33):
the apartment, and, hurrying away, he went to the post
house and sent on an express by post to Kikin
at Petersburg to warn him of the danger. But the Tsar,
noticing his absence, sent some one off after him, and
thus his errand at the post house was discovered, but
not until after the express had gone. Another express was
immediately sent off with the order for Kikin's arrest, and
(09:54):
both the couriers arrived in Petersburg very nearly at the
same time. The one, however, who brought the warning, was
a little too late. When he arrived the house of
the Commissioner was surrounded by a guard of fifty grenadiers
and officers were then in Ghikin's apartment, taking him out
of his bed, they put him at once in irons
and took him away, scarcely allowing him time to bid
(10:14):
his wife farewell. The page was, of course arrested and
sent to prison too. A number of other persons, many
of whom were of very high rank, were rested in
a similar manner. The arrival of Alexis at Moscow took
place early in February, and nearly all of February and
March were occupied with these arrests and the proceedings of
the court in trying the prisoners at length. Toward the
(10:38):
end of March, a considerable number, Quikin himself being among them,
were condemned to death and executed in the most dreadful
manner in a great and public square in the center
of Moscow. One was impaled alive, that is, a great
stake was driven through his body into the ground, and
he was left in that situation to die. Others were
broken on the wheel. One a bishop was burnt. The
(11:01):
heads of the principal offenders were afterward cut off and
set up on poles at the four corners of a
square enclosure made for the purpose. Then paled body lying
in the middle, the page who had been bribed by
Kikin was not put to death. His life was spared,
perhaps on account of his youth, but he was very
severely punished by scourging. During all this time, Alexis continued
(11:23):
to be confined to his prison, and he was subjected
to repeated examinations and cross examinations in order to draw
from him not only the whole truth in respect to
his own motives and designs in his flight, but also
such information as might lead to the full development of
the plans and designs of the Party in Russia, who
were opposed to the government of Peter, and who had
designed to make use of the name and position of
(11:44):
Alexis for the accomplishment of their schemes. Alexis had promised
to make a full, incomplete confession, but he did not
do so. In the answers to the series of questions
which were first addressed to him, he confessed as much
as he thought was already known, and endeavors to conceal
the rest. In a short time. However, many things that
he had at first denied or evaded were fully proved
(12:06):
by other testimony. Taking the trial of the prisoners who
have already been referred to. Then Alexis was charged with
the omissions or evasions in his confession which had thus
been made to appear, and asked for an explanation. And
thereupon he made new confessions, acknowledging the newly discovered facts
and excusing himself for not having mentioned them before, by
saying that he had forgotten them, or else that he
(12:28):
was afraid to divulge them for fear of injuring the
persons that would be implicated by them. Thus he went
on contradicting and involving himself more and more by every
fresh confession, until at last his father and all the
judges who had convened to investigate the case ceased to
place any confidence in anything that he said, and lost
almost all sympathy for him in his distress. The examination
(12:51):
was protracted through many months. The result of it, on
the whole was that it was fully proved that there
was a powerful party in Russia posted the reforms and
improvements of the and particularly to the introduction of the
European civilization into the country, who were desirous of affecting revolution,
and who wished to avail themselves of the quarrel between
Alexis and his father to promote their schemes. Alexis was
(13:14):
too much stupefied by his continual drunkenness to take any
very active or intelligent part in these schemes, but he
was more or less distinctly aware of them, and in
the offers which he had made to enter a monastery
and renounce all claims to the crown, he had been
utterly and sincere, his only object having been to blind
his father by means of them and gain time. He
acknowledged that he had hated his father and had wished
(13:35):
for his death, and when he fled to Vienna it
was his intention to remain until he could return and
take possession of the empire in his father's place. He however,
solemnly declared that it was never his intention to take
any steps himself toward that end during his father's lifetime,
though he admitted at last, when the fact had been
pretty well proved against him by other evidence, that in
(13:55):
case an insurrection in his behalf had broken out in
Russia and he had been called upon, he should have
joined the rebels. A great deal of information throwing light
upon the plans of Alexis and of the conspirators in
Russia connected with him, was obtained from the disclosures made
by Aphrostmia. Thus has already been stated she had been
taken by Alexis as a slave and forced against her
(14:17):
will to join herself to him and to follow his fortunes.
He had never admitted her into his confidence, but had
induced her from time to time to act as he desired,
by telling her any falsehood which would serve the purpose.
She consequently was not bound to him by any ties
of honor or affection, and felt herself at liberty to
answer freely all questions which were put to her by
(14:37):
the judges. Her testimony was of great value in many points,
and contributed very essentially towards elucidating the whole affair. End
of Chapter seventeen.
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