550 Hostility between Russia and Great Britain [1725–6

gradually to assimilate so much of Western civilisation as was necessary for its development and welfare. From this time to the great awakening which followed upon the disasters of the Crimean War, the history of Russia is mainly the history of her diplomacy, and of the wars which resulted from it. She had to assert herself in Europe, in order to remain European. Thus Russia's foreign conquests, her aggressions and her usurpations, during the eighteenth century, were but the successive phases of a determined struggle to carry out the programme of Peter the Great in its entirety. The other great Powers would have confined this semi-Asiatic interloper within her native steppes; she herself, as represented by her ablest rulers, saw in every fresh advance, westwards and southwards, an additional guarantee of her present stability and her future progress.

For at least fifteen years after the conclusion of the great Northern War, continental diplomacy was dominated by the influence of the foreign Prince who sat upon the English throne. George I had succeeded in rounding off his Hanoverian electorate by despoiling Sweden in her direst extremity; but his territorial acquisitions had been so recent and so extensive, that he was nervously apprehensive of losing them again. The readiest allies of George I were those States which, like himself, had snatched something from the general scramble for Sweden's continental possessions, such as Prussia and Denmark. France, exhausted by the War of the Spanish Succession, was pacifically inclined. The Empire and Sweden were doubtful Powers. Spain, on the other hand, was hostile to England. The interests of Russia were regarded as inimical to the House of Hanover, and Peter's matrimonial alliances had also fluttered the German Courts. One of his nieces, Catharine, had married Duke Charles Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; her younger sister, Duke Frederick William of Courland. Then, too, the new great Northern Power Russia was an object of distrust and jealousy to England, especially as the English Baltic trade had already suffered severely from the arbitrary restrictions imposed upon it by Peter. Finally, Russia had given an asylum to the exiled Duke Charles Frederick of HolsteinGottorp, and had appeared to support his interests, especially after he had become the Empress' son-in-law by his marriage with the Tsesarevna Anne (June 1, 1725). George I feared above all things the reopening of the Schleswig-Holstein question. He had purchased Bremen and Verden from Denmark, on the secret understanding that Denmark should be put into possession of Schleswig. If Denmark were forced to sur render part of the duchies, his own enlarged electorate might be endangered. The effects of the "Hanoverian Alliance" (Treaty of Herrenhausen, September 3, 1725, N.S.) between England and France, to which Prussia immediately acceded, were first felt by Russia. In the spring of 1726, the British Government, startled by unfounded rumours that the Empress Catharine was massing troops in Finland,

1726-7] “Hanoverian Alliance."-Supreme Privy Council 551

and equipping her fleet to promote the interests of the Duke of Holstein, sent into the Baltic a squadron, under Admiral Wager, which anchored before Reval. Wager was the bearer of a letter from George I in which his Britannic Majesty declared that the armaments of Russia, in times of profound peace, could not but arouse the suspicions of Great Britain and her allies. "Our fleet," continued this dispatch, "has been sent to preserve the peace of the North and prevent your fleet from putting to sea." The Empress protested with energy and dignity, and the British fleet was withdrawn; but the able Westphalian Andrei Ivanovich Osterman, who had entered Peter's service in 1717, and as Vice-Chancellor was to control the foreign policy of Russia for the next sixteen years, instantly took the precaution of throwing himself into the arms of England's enemies. On August 6, 1726, he advised the Empress Catharine to join the Austro-Spanish League, each of the three contracting parties engaging to guarantee each other's possessions, while Austria and Russia were to help each other, in case of need, with 30,000 men.

Thus the Hanoverian Alliance found itself confronted by an AustroRusso-Spanish League, and both began forthwith to compete for the support of the rest of Europe. Denmark acceded to the Hanoverian Alliance by the Treaty of Copenhagen (April 16, 1727), concluded for four years, whereby both England and France promised to assist her against Russia, and assure her the tranquil possession of Schleswig. Sweden took the same course, despite all the efforts to the contrary of the Russian ambassadors Michael Bestuzheff and Vasily Dolgoruki.

The one great administrative innovation of Catharine I was the formation of the Supreme Privy Council. The idea was Osterman's. It was not, as the French ambassador Campredon supposed, a move in the direction of limited monarchy, by associating the leading magnates in the Government, after the model of an English Cabinet Council, but rather an attempt to strengthen the executive, by concentrating affairs in the hands of a few persons, instead of leaving them, as heretofore, to the care of a turbulent and distracted Senate. After much deliberation between the Empress and her advisers, the ukase of March 9, 1726, established the Supreme Privy Council. It was to consist of not less than six, and not more than nine members, under the presidency of the sovereign. No ukases were in future to be issued, till they had received the approbation of the Council. The control of the War Office, the Admiralty, and the Foreign Office was transferred from the Senate to the Council; and, subsequently, the Council received authority to revise the work of all the other departments of State; even the election of Senators was subject to its approval.

Towards the end of 1726 Catharine's health began to fail, and for a time she was seriously ill. Early in January, 1727, she recovered; but her partisans had received a severe shock, and thought it high time to begin to look out for themselves. The position of Menshikoff in

552 Death of Catharine I.-Accession of Peter II [1726-7

66

particular was highly critical. During the last four months he had ruled almost like an absolute sovereign, and some were even inclined to believe that he aimed at the imperial crown for himself. On the other hand, his enemies were as numerous as the hairs of his head," and his violence and tyranny had revolted them to the last degree. He knew that if he made a single false step he was lost. At this juncture, he was approached by the Austrian ambassador, Rabutin, with a project for securing the succession to the Grand Duke Peter. Menshikoff eagerly snatched at the project. He stipulated for himself, however, the first vacant electorate in the Empire, and for his daughter Maria the hand of the young Grand Duke. To these conditions Rabutin cheerfully agreed. Osterman, who all along had represented the impossibility of keeping the Grand Duke out of his rights, joined Rabutin and Menshikoff, not so much from interest as from conviction, and it was his secret but powerful influence which ultimately secured victory for the Austrian faction. A desperate attempt of Peter Tolstoi (who had even more reason to dread the accession of the Grand Duke than that of Menshikoff himself) to counteract the plans of Menshikoff by elevating the Tsesarevna Elizabeth to the throne with a Council of Regency, came too late. On January 21, 1727, Catharine caught a chill at the ceremony of the benediction of the waters of the Neva. She rallied at the beginning of April; but on the 21st the fever increased, and her frequent fainting fits left but little hope of her recovery. Menshikoff at once took his measures. He surrounded the dying Empress with his creatures, so as to make it impossible for anyone else to approach her. On April 26, she was seized by so violent a paroxysm that the end was momentarily expected. On the same evening Tolstoi and his associates were apprehended. When, contrary to all expectation, Catharine rallied once more and lived eleven days longer, Menshikoff, acting nominally under her orders, succeeded in crushing a conspiracy aimed against himself. A special ukase banished Tolstoi and his associates to the shores of the White Sea, or to Siberia. This ukase was issued on the morning of May 16; on the same evening Catharine I expired.

Early on May 17, the members of the Imperial Family, the Supreme Privy Council, the High Senate, the Holy Synod, and the chief officers of the Guard, assembled at the Palace to hear the will of the late Empress read. Although it was supposed to have been signed by her, it is doubtful whether she ever saw it; but it so exactly expressed the wishes of the nation that its authenticity was never questioned. It declared the Grand Duke Peter Aleksyevich her successor. During his minority, the Government was to be in the hands of a Regency composed of the Supreme Privy Council, the Duke and Duchess of Holstein, and the Tsesarevna Elizabeth.

Peter II was still only eleven years old, but unusually tall and well proportioned for his age. From his childhood he had been kept in the

1727]

The domination of Menshikoff

553

strictest seclusion. His grandfather, who hated him because he was his father's son, had systematically ignored him; but had not, as some have supposed, allowed his education to be absolutely neglected. To do Menshikoff justice, it was now his first care that the young Emperor should be trained in a manner more befitting his exalted rank and his sovereign responsibilities; and to the learned and experienced ViceChancellor Osterman the care of the education of Peter II was wisely committed. He had, moreover, another more intimate and affectionate mentor in his sister Natalia, who had been the sole companion of his lonely infancy. Although only twelve months older than her brother, Providence had endowed her with wisdom and prudence, and other choice gifts of heart and mind.

During the first four months of the new reign, the Government was entirely in the hands of Menshikoff, who, despite frequent acts of tyranny, on the whole acquitted himself well of his enormous responsibilities. It is true that old enemies or troublesome rivals were, with small compunction, removed to a safe distance. But, on the other hand, Menshikoff tried to attach to himself all able officials who were not over-ambitious and to win over such members of the old boiar families as were not too exacting in their demands. Foreign affairs were left entirely in the hands of Osterman. The chair in the Supreme Privy Council vacated by Tolstoi was given to Prince Vasily Lukich Dolgoruki; and Menshikoff's old colleagues were not a little disgusted to find that his new friend, Prince Demetrius Galitsin, had as much to say in the Council as themselves. All the Dolgorukis and Galitsins were arch-conservatives and deeply attached to the family of the new Emperor. At the same time, the Emperor's grandmother, the Tsaritsa Eudoxia, was released from her prison at Schlüsselburg. In the beginning of August, the Duke and Duchess of Holstein were requested to quit Russia, and the Tsesarevna Elizabeth was kept in the background.

The

Tyrannous as it was, there can be little doubt as to the vigour and economical efficiency of the administration of Menshikoff. humane and conciliatory policy of the last reign was continued. Peter I's export duty of 37 per cent. on hemp and linen yarn was reduced to 5 per cent.; a commission for enquiring into the state of commerce was appointed by Osterman; the trade in Siberian furs was made absolutely free. As a first step towards softening the barbarous customs of the day the ukase of July 21, 1727, ordered the immediate removal and destruction of the stone columns and iron hooks on which the heads and limbs of executed criminals had hitherto been exposed in the great square of St Petersburg.

But, salutary as the rule of Menshikoff was, it was still a usurpation. The will of the late Empress had transferred all her authority to the Supreme Privy Council, and the Council was now treated as if it did not exist. Menshikoff ruled because he was so much stronger than anyone

554

The supremacy of the Dolgorukis

[1727-8

else. One of his first acts had been to kidnap the young Emperor by carrying him off to his palace in the Vasily Island. Shortly afterwards, Osterman annouced to the Council his Majesty's intention to wed Menshikoff's eldest daughter, Maria. But he was never to become the father-in-law of Peter II. The young Emperor, who had a will of his own, already began to chafe against the constant and often petty interference of the dictator. At this juncture, Menshikoff was suddenly prostrated by the pulmonary complaint from which he had long been suffering. On his return to Court six weeks later, he found that the young Emperor had flitted to Peterhof, taking Osterman and the Dolgorukis with him. Menshikoff precipitated his fall by quarrelling with Osterman, his only friend, of whom he was growing jealous, even going the length of threatening to have him broken on the wheel for his insolence. On September 19, 1727, an ukase, issued in the name of the Emperor, forbade obedience to any orders proceeding from Menshikoff; on the 20th, the Supreme Privy Council deprived him of all his charges and emoluments on the charge of conspiracy against the Crown; and on the 21st he and his family were expelled from the capital and ultimately banished to Berezoff in Siberia, where he died in 1730.

The triumph of Menshikoff's enemies was the triumph of the reactionary old Russian nobility, as represented by the princely families of the Galitsins and the Dolgorukis. At the head of the Galitsins stood Prince Demetrius Mikhailovich, a thoroughly honest, upright man, whose many good qualities were ruined by an inflexible haughtiness and an insatiable ambition. He had always regarded the Petrine reforms with hatred and suspicion. The most conspicuous of the Dolgorukis were Prince Vasily Lukich, who had now a considerable reputation at half the Courts of Europe for diplomatic adroitness, and Prince Vasily Vladimirovich, the military celebrity of the family, though as a general he had been outshone by Prince Michael Galitsin. The domination of these men might have proved highly injurious to Russia, but for the counteracting influence of the Vice-Chancellor. To the Dolgorukis and the Galitsins Osterman was detestable both as a foreigner and as the ablest pupil of Peter I. The Dolgorukis tried at first to poison the mind of the young Emperor against him; but Peter II told them plainly that he would not abandon Osterman; on the other hand, he requested Osterman not to interfere with the Dolgorukis. A sort of tacit truce thereupon ensued. The Dolgorukis carried Peter off to Moscow, where the young Emperor was crowned on March 4, 1728. The lion's share of the coronation honours naturally fell to the dominant old Russian party, especially to the Dolgorukis who were gradually usurping an authority unattainable by Menshikoff in the plenitude of his power. Peter II, who had learnt to regard the new capital as a prison, was charmed by the superior natural attractions of the old capital, and gave himself up entirely to hawking and hunting, forbidding those about