Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

Russian empire ; and it was he also who rebuilt, in stone, the walls of the Kremlin.

The portrait of Ivan III., by Karamsin, does not belie the declaration of that great prince: " I will give to Russia whomsoever I please." This was his answer to the boyards when they demanded the crown for his grandson, whom he had dispossessed in favour of the son of a second wife : for, to the present times, legitimacy in Russia has depended on the good pleasure of the Czars.

Peter the Great confirmed this principle of Ivan III., by making, as did that prince, the succession dependant on his caprice. He yet more resembled Ivan IV. by the execution of his son, whose life he destroyed, as well as that of the priests and others who encouraged the young prince in his resistance to the civilisation imported from the West, and enjoined as the most sacred duty by the cruel founder of the new empire of Russia. The following is extracted from M. le General Comte de Ségur's History of Rtissia, and of Peter the Great:

" It was in 1716 that the Czar thus declared himself beyond and above all laws ; as though he was preparing for the terrible coup-(Vétat with which, in 1718, he stained his renown. *******

"In September, 1716, Alexis, to escape from the infant civilisation of the Russians, took refuge in the midst of the civilisation of Europe. He placed himself under the protection of Austria, and lived concealed with a mistress at Naples.

" Peter discovered his retreat, and wrote to him. His letter commenced with reproaches, and concluded by dreadful menaces if he did not obey the orders sent to him. It contained also these words: ' Do you fear me ? I assure you, and promise you, in the name of God, and by the final Judgment, that if you submit to my will, and return here, I will not subject you to any punishment; nay, I will love you even more than formerly.'

" On this solemn pledge of a father and a monarch, Alexis returned to Moscow the 3d February, 1718 : on the day after, he was disarmed, seized, interrogated, contemptuously excluded from the throne—both he and his posterity—and thrown into a fortress.

" There, every day and night, an absolute father, violating