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The czar wrote him a second letter, as follows:-" You speak of the succession, as if I

As these letters and answers afford the most striking evidence of the czar's prudence and the prince's insincerity, and will convey to the reader a clear idea of the grounds and motives of this extraordinary transaction, we have inserted the following translation of them. The first letter from the czar to his son is dated the 27th of October, 1715, and displays a noble spirit of religion, with the most ardent desire of leaving a successor who should perpetuate his name and glory to future ages.

You

"Son." says the czar to him," you cannot be ignorant of what is known to all the world, that our people groaned uuder the oppression of the Swedes before the beginning of this present war. By the usurped possession of many of our maritime ports, so necessary to our state, they cut us off from all commerce with the rest of mankind; and we saw, with deep regret, that they had even cast a mist over the eyes of persons of the greatest discernment, who tamely brooked their slavery, and made no complaints to us. know how much it cost us at the beginning of this war to make ourselves thoroughly experienced, and to stand our ground in spite of all the advantages which our irreconcileable enemies gained over us. The Almighty alone has conducted us by his hand, and conducts us still. We submitted to that probationary state with resignation to the will of God, not doubting but it was he who made us pass through it: he has accepted our submission; and the same enemy, before whom we were wont to tremble, now trembles before us. These are effects which, under God's assistance, we owe to our labour, and those of our faithful and affectionate sons, and Russian subjects. But while I survey the successes with which God has blessed our arms, if I turn my eyes on the posterity that is to succeed me, my soul is pierced with anguish; and I have no enjoyment of my present happiness when I carry my views into futurity. All my felicity vanishes away like a dream, since you, my son, reject all means of rendering yourself capable of governing well after me. Your incapacity is voluntary; for you cannot excuse yourself from want of genius: it is inclination alone you want. Far less can you plead the want of bodily strength, as if God had not furnished you sufficiently in that respect: for though your constitution be none of the strongest, it cannot be reckoned weak. you will not so much as hear of warlike exercises; though it is by those means we are risen from that obscurity in which we were buried, and have made ourselves known to the nations about us, whose esteem we now enjoy. I am far from desiring you to cherish in yourself a disposition to make war for its own sake, and without just reasons: all I demand of you is, that you would apply yourself to learn the military art; because, without understanding the rules of war, it is impossible to be qualified for government. I might set before your eyes many examples of what I propose to you; but shall only mention the Greeks, with whom we are united by the same profession of faith. Whence came the declension of their empire, but from the neglect of arms? Sloth and inaction have subjected them to tyrants, and that slavery under which they have groaned. You are much mistaken if you imagine it is enough for a prince that he have good generals to act under his orders: no, my son, it is upon the chief himself that the eyes of the world are fixed; they study his inclinations, and easily slide into the imitation of his manners. My brother, during his reign, loved magnificence in dress, and splendid equipages, and horses richly caparisoned; the taste of this country was not much formed that way; but the pleasures of the prince soon became those of the subjects, who are readily led to imitate him both in the objects of his love and disgust. If people are so easily disengaged from things that are only for pleasure, will they not be still more prone to

Yet

stood in need of your consent in the disposal thereof. I reproached you with the aversion you have forget, and in process of time wholly to lay aside, the use of arms, the exercise of which grows the more irksome the less they are habituated to them? You have no inclination to learn the profession of war; you do not apply yourself to it; and consequently will never know it. How then will you be able to command others, and to judge of the rewards which those subjects deserve who do their duty, or of the punishment due to such as fall short of obedience? You must judge only by other people's eyes; and will be considered as a young bird, which, reaching out its beak, is as ready to receive poison as proper nourishment. You say, the infirm state of your health makes you unfit to bear the fatigues of war; but that is a frivolous excuse. I desire you not to undergo the fatigues of that profession, though it is there that all great captains are begun; but I wish you had an inclination to the military art; and reason may give it you, if you have it not from nature. Had you once this inclination, it would occupy your thoughts at all times, even in your hours of sickness. Ask those who remember my brother's reign: his state of health was much more infirm than your's; he could not manage a horse of never so little mettle, nor hardly mount him; yet he loved horses, and perhaps there never will be in the country finer stables than his. Hence you see that success does not always depend upon personal labour, but upon the inclination. If you think that there are princes whose affairs fail not to succeed, though they go not to war in person, you are in the right; but if they go not to the field of battle, they have, however, an inclination to go, and are acquainted with the military art. For instance, the late king of France did not always take the field himself; but we know to what degree he was a lover of war, and how many glorious exploits he performed therein; which made his campaigns be called the theatre and school of the world. The bent of that prince's mind was not turned to military affairs only, he had also a taste for the polite arts, for manufactures, and other institutions, which have made his kingdom more flourishing than any other. After all these remonstrances which I have laid before you, I return to my first subject, which immediately concerns yourself. I am a man, and consequently must die: to whom shall I leave the care of finishing what, by God's grace, I have begun, and of preserving what I have in part recovered? To a son who, like that slothful servant in the gospel, buries his talent in the earth, and neglects to improve what God has committed to his trust? How often have I reproached you for your sullenness and indocility? I have been obliged to chastise you on that account. For these several years past I have hardly spoke to you, because I almost despair of bringing you back to the right way; discouraged and disheartened by the fruitlessness of all my endeavours. You loiter on in supine indolence; abandoning yourself to shameful pleasures, without extending your foresight to the dangerous consequences which such a conduct must produce both to yourself and the whole state: you confine yourself to the government of your own house, and in that station you acquit yourself very ill; St. Paul has told us," he that knows not how to govern his own house, how shall he be able to rule the church of God?" In like manner I say to you, since you know not how to manage your domestic affairs, how can you be able to govern a kingdom? I am determined, at last, to signify to you my final purpose; being willing, however, to defer the execution of it for a short time, to see if you will reform; if not, know that I am resolved to deprive you of the succession, as I would lop off an useless branch. Do not imagine, that because I have no other child but you, I mean by this only

This letter was written about eight days before the birth of Peter Petrowitz, the czar's second son.

shown to all kind of business, and signified to you, that I was highly dissatisfied with your conduct in general; but to these particulars you have given me no answer. Paternal exhortations make no impression on you, wherefore I resolve to write you this once for the last time. If you despise the advices I give you while I am alive, what regard will you pay to them after my death? But though you had the inclination at present to be true to your promises, yet a corrupt priesthood will be able to turn you at pleasure, and force you to falsify them. They have no dependence but upon you. You have no sense of gratitude towards him who gave you your being. Have you ever assisted him in toils and labours since you arrived at the age of maturity? Do you not censure and condemn, nay, even affect to hold in detestation, whatever I do for the good of my people? In a word, I have reason to conclude, that if you survive me you will overturn every thing that I have done. Take your choice, either endeavour to make yourself worthy of the throne, or embrace a monastic state. I expect your answer, either in writing or by word of mouth, otherwise I shall treat you as a common malefactor."

to intimidate you; I will most certainly execute my resolution; and God requires it of me for since spare not my own life for the sake of my country and the welfare of my people, why should I allow an effeminate prince to ascend the throne after me, who would sacrifice the interest of the subject to his pleasures? and should he be obliged to expose his life in their behalf, would leave them to perish, rather than redress their grievances. I will call in a mere stranger to the crown, if he be but worthy of that honour, sooner than my own son, if he is unworthy.

"PETER."

To this letter the czarowitz replied: "Most gracious sovereign and father, I have read the letter which your majesty sent me of the 27th of October, 1715, after the interment of my wife; and all the answer I can make to it is, that if your majesty is determined to deprive me of the succession to the crown of Russia, on account of my inability, your will be done. I even request it of you very earnestly; because I judge not myself fit for government. My memory is greatly impaired; and without memory there is no managing affairs. The powers both of my body and mind are much weakened by the diseases to which I have been incident, and I am thereby incapacitated for the rule of so great a people. Such a charge requires a man far more vigorous than I am. For these reasons I am not ambitrous to succeed you (whom God preserve through a length of years) in the crown of Russia, even though I had no brother, as I have one at present, whom God long preserve. As little will I for the future set up any claim to the succession; to the truth of which I solemnly swear, taking God to be my witness; and in testimony thereof I write and sign these presents. I put my children into your hands; and for myself I ask no more of you than a bare maintenance during my life, leaving the whole to your pleasure.

"Your humble servant and son,
"ALEXIS."

Peter soon penetrated through the disguise his son had assumed, and therefore wrote him the above letter, dated January 19, 1716, and which he called his Last Admonition."

This letter was very severe, and it was easy for the prince to have replied that he would alter his conduct; instead of which, he only returned a short answer to his father, desiring permission to turn monk.*

This resolution appeared altogether unnatural ; and it may furnish matter of surprise, that the czar should think of travelling, and leaving a son at home so obstinate and ill-affected; but, at the same time, his doing so, is next to a proof that he thought he had no reason to apprehend a conspiracy from that son.

The czar, before he set out for Germany and France, went to pay his son a visit. The prince, who was at that time ill, or at least feigned himself so, received his father in his bed, were he protested, with the most solemn oaths, that he was ready to retire into a cloister. The czar gave him six months to consider of it, and then set out on his travels with the czarina.

No sooner was he arrived at Copenhagen, than he heard (what he might reasonably expect) that the czarowitz conversed only with factious and evil-minded persons, who strove to feed his discontent. Upon this the czar wrote to him, that he had to choose between a throne and a convent; and that if he had any thoughts of succeeding him, he must immediately set out and join him at Copenhagen.

But the confidants of the prince remonstrating to him how dangerous it would be to trust himself in a place where he could have no friends to advise him, and where he would be exposed to the anger of an incensed father and the machinations of a revengeful step-mother; he, under pretence of going to join his father at Copenhagen, took the road to Vienna, and threw himself under the protection of the emperor Charles VI. his brother-in-law, intending to remain at his court till the death of the czar.

This adventure of the czarowitz was nearly the same as that of Lewis XI. of France, who, when he was dauphin, quitted the court of his father Charles VII. and took refuge with the duke of Burgundy; but the dauphin was much more culpable than Alexis, inasmuch as he married in di rect opposition to his father's will, raised an army against him, and threw himself into the arms of a prince, who was Charles's declared enemy, and refused to hearken to the repeated instances of his father, to return back to his court.

The czarowitz, on the contrary, had married only in compliance with his father's orders, had never rebelled against him, nor raised an army, nor taken refuge in the dominions of an enemy, and

*This letter was couched in the following terms: -"Most gracious sovereign and father, yesterday morning I received your letter, of the 19th of this month my indisposition hinders me from writing to you at large, but I am willing to embrace the monastic state, and I beg your gracious consent thereto. "Your servant and unworthy son, "ALEXIS.

returned to throw himself at his feet upon the very first letter he received from him: for, as soon as Peter knew that his son had been at Vienna, and had afterwards retired to Tyrol, and from thence to Naples, which, at that time, belonged to the emperor, he despatched Romanzoff, a captain of his guards and the privy counsellor Tolstoy, with a letter written with his own hand, and dated at Spa, the 21st of July, N. S. 1717. They found the prince at Naples, in the castle of St. Elme, and delivered to him his father's letter, which was as follows:

"I now write to you for the last time, to acquaint you that you must instantly comply with my orders, which will be communicated to you by Tolstoy and Romanzoff. If you obey, I give you my sacred word and promise, that I will not punish you; and that, if you will return home, I will love you more than ever; but if you do not, I, as your father, and in virtue of the authority which God has given me over you, denounce against you my eternal curse; and, as your sovereign, declare to you that I will find means to punish your disobedience, in which I trust God himself will assist me, and espouse the just cause of an injured parent and king.

"For the rest, remember that I have never laid any restraint upon you. Was I obliged to leave you at liberty to choose your way of life? Had I not the power in my own hands to oblige you to conform to my will? I had only to command, and make myself obeyed."

The viceroy of Naples found it no difficult matter to persuade the czarowitz to return to his father. This is an incontestable proof that the emperor had no intentions to enter into any engagements with the prince, that might give umbrage to his father. Alexis therefore returned with the envoys, bringing with him his mistress, Aphrosyne, who had been the companion of his elope

ment.

We may consider the czarowitz as an ill-advised young man, who had gone to Vienna, and to Naples, instead of going to Copenhagen, agreeable to the orders of his father and sovereign. Had he been guilty of no other crime than this, which is common enough with young and giddy persons, it was certainly very excusable. The prince determined to return to his father, on the faith of his having taken God to witness that he not only would pardon him, but that he would love him better than ever. But it appears by the instructions given to the two envoys who went to fetch him, and even by the czar's own letter, that his father required him to declare the persons who had been his counsellors, and also to fulfil the oath he had marle of renouncing the succession.

It seemed difficult to reconcile this exclusion of the czarowitz from the succession, with the other part of the oath, by which the czar had bound himself in his letter, namely, that of loving his son better than ever. Perhaps, divided between

paternal love, and the justice he owed to himself and people, as a sovereign, he might limit the renewal of his affection to his son in a convent, instead of to that son on a throne: perhaps, likewise, he was in hopes to reduce him to reason, and to render him worthy of the succession at last, by making him sensible of the loss of a crown which he had forfeited by his own indiscretion. In a circumstance so uncommon, so intricate, and so afflicting, it may easily be supposed that the minds of both father and son were under equal perturbation, and hardly consistent with themselves.

The prince arrived at Moscow on the 13th of February, N. S. 1717, and the same day went to throw himself at his father's feet, who was returned to the city from his travels. They had a long conference together, and a report was immediately spread through the city that the prince and his father were reconciled, and that all past transactions were buried in oblivion. But the next day orders were issued for the regiments of guards to be under arms at break of day, and for all the czar's ministers, boyards, and counsellors, to repair to the great hall of the castle; as also for the prelates, together with two monks of St. Basile, professors of divinity, to assemble in the cathedral at the tolling of the great bell. The unhappy prince was then conducted to the great castle like a prisoner, and being come in his father's presence, threw himself in tears at his feet, and presented a writing, containing a confession of his faults, declaring himself unworthy of the succession, and imploring only that his life might be spared.*

The czar, raising up his son, withdrew with him into a private room, where he put many questions to him, declaring to him at the same time, that if he concealed any one circumstance relating to his elopement, his life should answer for it. The prince was then brought back to the great hall, where the council was assembled, and the czar's declaration, which had been previously prepared, was publicly read in his presence.†

*The prince's renunciation was couched in the following terms:-"I, the undernamed, declare upon the holy gospel, that on account of the crimes I have committed against his czarish majesty, my father and sovereign, as set forth in his manifesto, I am, through my own fault, excluded from the throne of Russia. Therefore I confess and acknowledge that exclusion to be just, as having merited it by my own fault, and unworthiness; and I hereby oblige myself, and swear in the presence of Almighty God, in unity of nature, and trinity of persons, as my supreme Judge, to submit in all things to my father's will, never to set up a claim or pretension to the succession, or accept of it under any pretext whatever, acknowledging my brother Peter Petrowitz as lawful successor to the crown. In testimony whereof, I kiss the holy cross, and sign these present with my own hand,

"ALEXIS."

† As this extraordinary piece cannot fail of being interesting to most part of our readers, we have ventured to subjoin the whole of it in a note, our author having only given some few extracts. 91

In this piece the czar reproaches his son with all those faults we have before related, namely, his

The Czar's Declaration.

"Peter I. by the grace of God, czar and emperor of Russia, &c. to all our faithful subjects, ecclesiastical, military, and civil, of all the states of the Russian nation. It is notorious, and well known to the greatest part of our faithful subjects, and chiefly to those who live in the places of our residence, or who are in our service, with how much care and application we have caused our eldest son Alexis to be brought up and educated; having given him for that purpose, from his infancy, tutors to teach him the Russian tongue, and foreign languages, and to instruct him in all arts and sciences, in order not only to bring him up in our Christian orthodox faith of the Greek profession, but also in the knowledge of political and military affairs, and likewise in the constitution of foreign countries, their customs and languages; through the reading of history and other books, in all manner of sciences becoming a prince of his high rank, he might acquire the qualifications worthy of a successor to our throne of Great Russia. Nevertheless, we have seen with grief, that all attention and care for the education and instruction of our son, proved ineffectual and useless, seeing he always swerved from his filial obedience, showing no application for what was becoming a worthy successor, and slighting the precepts of the masters we had appointed for him; but, on the contrary, frequenting disorderly persons, from whom he could learn nothing good, or that would be advantageous and useful to him. We have not neglected often to endeavour to reclaim and bring him back to his duty, sometimes by caresses and gentle means, sometimes by reprimands, sometimes by paternal corrections. We have more than once taken him with us into our army and the field, that he might be instructed in the art of war, as one of the chief sciences for the defence of his country; guarding him, at the same time, from all hazard of the succession, though we exposed ourself to manifest perils and dangers. We have at other times left him at Moscow, putting into his hands a sort of regency in the empire, in order to form him in the art of government, and that he might learn how to reign after us. We have likewise sent him into foreign countries, in hopes and expectation, that seeing in his travels governments so well regulated, this would excite in him some emulation, and an inclination to apply himself to do well. But all our care has been fruitless, and like the seed of the doctrine fallen upon a rock; for he has not only refused to follow that which is good, but even is come to hate it, without showing any inclination, or disposition, either for military or political affairs; hourly and continually conversing with base and disorderly persons, whose morals are rude and abominable. As we were resolved to endeavour, by all imaginable means, to reclaim him from that disorderly course, and inspire him with an inclination to converse with persons of virtue and honour; we exhorted him to choose a consort amongst the chief foreign houses, as is usual in other countries, and hath been practised by our ancestors, the czars of Russia, who have contracted alliances by marriages with other sovereign houses, and we have left him at liberty to make a choice. He declared his inclination for the princess, granddaughter of the duke of Wolfenbuttle, then reigning, sister-in-law to his imperial majesty the emperor of the Romans, now reigning, and cousin to the king of Great Britain; and having desired us to procure him that alliance, and permit him to marry that princess, we readily consented thereunto, without any regard to the great expense which was necessarily occasioned by that marriage; but, after its consummation we found ourselves disappointed of the hopes we had, that the change in the condition of our son would produce good fruits, and change in his bad inclinations; for notwithstanding his spouse was, as far as we have

little application to study, his connexions with the favourers of the ancient customs and manners of

been able to observe, a wise, sprightly princess, and of a virtuous conduct, and that he himself had chosen her, he nevertheless lived with her in the greatest disunion, while he redoubled his affection for lewd people, bringing thereby a disgrace upon our house in the eyes of foreign powers to whom that princess was related, which drew upon us many complaints and reproaches. Our frequent advices and exhortations to him to reform his conduct, proved ineffectual, and he at last violated the conjugal faith, and gave his affection to a prostitute of the most servile and low condition, living publicly in that crime with her, to the great contempt of his lawful spouse, who soon after died; and it was believed that her grief, occasioned by the disorderly life of her husband, hastened the end of her days. When we saw his resolution to persevere in his vicious courses, we declared to him, at the funeral of his consort, that if he did not for the future conform to our will, and apply himself to things becoming a prince, presumptive heir to so great an empire, we would deprive him of the succession, without any regard to his being our only son (our second son was not then born) and that he ought not to rely upon his being such, because we would rather choose for our successor a stranger worthy thereof, than an unworthy son; that we would not leave our empire to such a successor, who would ruin and destroy what we have, by God's assistance, established, and tarnish the glory and honour of the Russian nation, for the acquiring of which we had sacrificed our ease and our health, and willingly exposed our life on several occasions; besides, that the fear of God's judgment would not permit us to leave the government of such vast territories in the hands of one whose insufficiency and unworthiness we were not ignorant of. In short, we exhorted him in the most pressing terms we could make use of, to behave himself with discretion, and gave him time to repent and return to his duty. His answer to these remonstrances was, that he acknowledged himself guilty in all these points; but alleged the weakness of his parts and genius, which did not permit him to apply himself to the sciences, and other functions recommended to him: he owned himself incapable of our succession and desired us to discharge him from the same. Neverthe less, we continued to exhort him with a paternal affection, and joining menaces to our exhortations; we forgot nothing to bring him back the right way. The operations of the war having obliged us to repair to Denmark, we left him at Petersburg, to give him time to return to his duty, and amend his ways; and, afterwards, upon the repeated advices we received of the continuance of his disorderly life, we sent him orders to come to us at Copenhagen, to make the campaign, that he might thereby the better form himself. But, forgetting the fear and commandments of God, who enjoins obedience even to private parents, and much more to those who are at the same time sovereigns. our paternal cares had no other return than unheard-of ingratitude; for, instead of coming to us as we ordered, he withdrew, with large sums of money, and his infamous concubine, with whom he continued to live in a criminal course, and put himself under the protection of the emperor, raising against us, his father and his lord, numberless calumnies and false reports, as if we did persecute him, and intended without cause to deprive him of the succession; alleging, moreover, that even his life was not safe if he continued with us, and desired the emperor not only to give him refuge in his dominions, but also to protect him against us by force of arms. Every one may judge, what shame and dishonour this conduct of our son hath drawn upon us and our empire, in the face of the whole world; the like instance is hardly to be found in history. The emperor, though informed of his excesses, and how he had lived with his consort, sister-in-law to his imperial majesty, thought fit, however, upon these pressing

the country, and his ill-behaviour to his wife.“He has even violated the conjugal faith," saith

stances, to appoint him a place where he might reside; and he desired farther, that he might be so private there, that we might not come to the knowledge of it. Meanwhile his long stay having made us fear, out of a tender and fatherly affection for him, that some misfortune had befallen him, we sent persons several ways to get intelligence of him, and, after a great deal of trouble, we were at last informed by the captain of our guard, Alexander Romanzoff, that he was privately kept in an imperial fortress at Tyrol; whereupon we wrote a letter, with our own hand, to the emperor, to desire that he might be sent back to us: but, notwithstanding the emperor acquainted him with our demands, and exhorted him to return to us, and submit to our will, as being his father and lord; yet he alleged, with a great many calumnies against us, that he ought not to be delivered into our hands, as if we had been his enemy, and a tyrant, from whom he had nothing to expect bat death. In short, he persuaded his imperial majesty, instead of sending him back at that time to us, to remove him to some remote place in his dominions, namely, Naples in Italy, and keep him there secretly in the castle, under a borrowed name. Nevertheless, we having notice of the place where he was, did thereupon despatch to the emperor our privy-counsellor, Peter Tolstoy, and the captain of our guard, aforesaid, with a most pressing letter, representing how unjust it would be to detain our son, contrary to all laws, divine and human, according to which private parents, and with much more reason those who are besides invested with a sovereign authority as we are, have an unlimited power over their children, independently of any other judge; and we set forth on one side, the just and affectionate manner with which we had always used our son, and, on the other, his disobedience; representing, in the conclusion, the ill consequences and animosities which the refusal of delivering up our son to us might occasion, because we would not leave this affair in that condition. We, at the same time, ordered those we sent with that letter, to make verbal remonstrances even in more pressing terms, and to declare that we should be obliged to revenge, by all possible methods, such detaining our son. We wrote likewise a letter to him with our own hand, to represent to him the horror and impiety of his conduct, and the enormity of the crime he had committed against us his father, and how God threatened in his laws to punish disobedient children with eternal death: we threatened him, as a father, with our curses, and, as his lord, to declare him a traitor to his country, unless he returned and obeyed our commands; and gave him assurance, that if he did as we desired, and returned, we would pardon his crime. Our envoys, after many solicitations, and the above representation, made by us in writing, at last obtained leave of the emperor to go and speak to our son, in order to dispose him to return home. The imperial minister gave them at the same time to understand, that our son had informed the emperor that we persecuted him, and that his life was not safe with us, whereby he moved the emperor's compassion, and induced him to take him into his protection; but that the emperor, taking now into his consideration our true and solid representations, promised to use his utmost endeavours to dispose him to return to us; and would, moreover, declare to him, that he could not in justice and equity refuse to deliver him to his father, or have any difference with us on that account. Our envoys, upon their arrival at Naples, having desired to deliver to him our letter, written with our hand, sent us word that he did refuse to admit them; but that the emperor's viceroy had found means, by inviting him to his house, to present them to him afterwards, much against his will. He did then, indeed, receive our letter, containing our paternal exhortation, and threatening our curse, but without showing the least inclination to return; alleging still

the czar in his manifesto, "by giving his affection to a prostitute of the most servile and low condi

a great many falsities and calumnies againt us, as if, by reason of several dangers he had to apprehend from us, he could not, nor would not return; and boasting that the emperor had not only promised to defend and protect him against us, but even to set him upon the throne of Russia against our will, by force of arms. Our envoys perceiving this evil disposition, tried all imaginable ways to prevail with him to return; they intreated him, they expatiated by turns upon the graciousness of our assurances towards him, and upon our threats in case of disobedience, and that we would even bring him away by force of arms; they declared to him that the emperor would not enter into a war with us on his account, and many other such like representations did they make to him. But he paid no regard to all this, nor showed any inclination to return to us, until the imperial viceroy, convinced at last of his obstinacy, told him, in the emperor's name, that he ought to return; for that his imperial majesty could not by any law keep him from us, nor, during the present war with Turkey, and also in Italy with Spain, embroil himself with us upon his account. When he saw how the case stood, fearing he should be delivered up to us whether he would or not, he at length resolved to return home; and declared his mind to our envoys, and to the imperial viceroy: he likewise wrote the same thing to us, acknowledging himself to be a criminal and blameworthy. Now, although our son, by so long a course of criminal disobedience against us, his father and lord, for many years, and particularly for the dishonour he hath cast upon us in the face of the world, by withdrawing himself, and raising calumnies against us, as if we were an unnatural father, and for opposing his sovereign, hath deserved to be punished with death; yet our paternal affection inclines us to have mercy upon him, and we therefore pardon his crimes, and exempt him from all punishment for the same. But, considering his unworthiness, we cannot in conscience leave him after us the succession to the throne of Russia; foreseeing that, by his vicious courses, he would entirely destroy the glory of our nation and the safety of our dominions, which, through God's assistance, we have acquired and established by incessant application; for it is notorious and known to every one, how much it hath cost us, and with what efforts we have not only recovered the provinces which the enemy had usurped from our empire, but also conquered several considerable towns and countries, and with what care we have caused our people to be instructed in all sorts of civil and military sciences, to the glory and advantage of the nation and empire. Now, as we should pity our states and faithful subjects, if, by such a successor, we should throw them back into a much worse condition than ever they were yet; so, by the paternal authority, in virtue of which, by the laws of our empire, any of our subjects may disinherit and give his succession to such other of his sons as he pleases; and, in quality of sovereign prince, in consideration of the safety of our dominions, we do deprive our said son Alexis, for his crimes and unworthiness, of the succession after us to the throne of Russia, even though there should not remain one single person of our family after us. And we do constitute and declare successor to the said throne after us, our second son Peter, though yet very young, having no successor that his older. We lay upon our said son Alexis our paternal curse, if ever at any time he pretends to or reclaims the said succession; and we desire our faithful subjects, whether ecclesiastics or seculars, of all ranks and conditions, and the whole Russian nation, in conformity to this constitution and our will, to acknowledge and consider our said son Peter, appointed by our constitution to confirm the whole by oath, before the holy altar, upon the holy gospel, kissing the cross; and all those who shall ever,

a

son,

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