Immediately offered for the discovery of the persons by whom these

writings were dropped, but it was of no avail, and at length the

excitement gradually passed away, leaving the victory wholly in Peter's

hands.

After this the Czar effected a great many important reforms in the

administration of the affairs of the empire, especially in those

relating to the government of the provinces, and to the collection of

the revenues in them. This business had been hitherto left almost

wholly in the hands of the governors, by whom it had been grossly

mismanaged. The governors had been in the habit both of grievously

oppressing the people in the collection of the taxes, and also of

grossly defrauding the emperor in remitting the proceeds to the

treasury.

Peter now made arrangements for changing the system entirely. He

established a central office at the capital for the transaction of all

business connected with the collecting of the revenues, and then

appointed collectors for all the provinces of the empire, who were to

receive their instructions from the minister who presided over this

central office, and make their returns directly to him. Thus the whole

system was remodeled, and made far more efficient than it ever had been

before. Of course, the old governors, who, in consequence of this

reform, lost the power of enriching themselves by their oppressions and

frauds, complained bitterly of the change, and mourned, like good

Conservatives, the ruin which this radicalism was bringing upon the

country, but they were forced to submit.

Whenever there was any thing in the private manners and customs of the

people which Peter thought was likely to impede in any way the

effectual accomplishment of his plans, he did not hesitate at all to

ordain a change; and some of the greatest difficulties which he had to

encounter in his reforms arose from the opposition which the people

made to the changes that he wished to introduce in the dress that they

wore, and in several of the usages of common life. The people of the

country had been accustomed to wear long gowns, similar to those worn

to this day by many Oriental nations. This costume was very

inconvenient, not only for soldiers, but also for workmen, and for all

persons engaged in any of the common avocations of life. Peter

required the people to change this dress; and he sent patterns of the

coats worn in western Europe to all parts of the country, and had them

put up in conspicuous places, where every body could see them, and

required every body to imitate them. He, however, met with a great

deal of difficulty in inducing them to do so. He found still greater

difficulty in inducing the people to shave off their mustaches and

their beards. Finding that they would not shave their faces under the

influence of a simple regulation to that effect, he assessed a tax upon

beards, requiring that every gentleman should pay a hundred rubles a

year for the privilege of wearing one; and as for the peasants and

common people, every one who wore a beard was stopped every time he

entered a city or town, and required to pay a penny at the gate by way

of tax or fine.

The nuisance of long clothes he attempted to abate in a similar way.

The officers of the customs, who were stationed at the gates of the

towns, were ordered to stop every man who wore a long dress, and compel

him either to pay a fine of about fifty cents, or else kneel down and

have all that part of their coat or gown which lay upon the ground,

while they were in that posture, cut off with a pair of big shears.

Still, such was the attachment of the people to their old fashions,

that great numbers of the people, rather than submit to this curtailing

of their vestments, preferred to pay the fine.

On one occasion the Czar, laying aside for the moment the system of

severity and terror which was his usual reliance for the accomplishment

of his ends, concluded to try the effect of ridicule upon the

attachment of the people to old and absurd fashions in dress. It

happened that one of the fools or jesters of the court was about to be

married. The young woman who was to be the jester's bride was very

pretty, and she was otherwise a favorite with those who knew her, and

the Czar determined to improve the occasion of the wedding for a grand

frolic. He accordingly made arrangements for celebrating the nuptials

at the palace, and he sent invitations to all the great nobles and

officers of state, with their wives, and to all the other great ladies

of the court, giving them all orders to appear dressed in the fashions

which prevailed in the Russian court one or two hundred years before.

With the exception of some modes of dress prevalent at the present day,

there is nothing that can be conceived more awkward, inconvenient, and

ridiculous than the fashions which were reproduced on this occasion.

Among other things, the ladies wore a sort of dress of which the

sleeves, so it is said, were ten or twelve yards long. These sleeves

were made very full, and were drawn up upon the arm in a sort of a

puff, it being the fashion to have as great a length to the sleeve as

could possibly be crowded on between the shoulder and the wrist. It is

said, too, that the customary salutation between ladies and gentlemen

meeting in society, when this dress was in fashion, was performed

through the intervention of these sleeves. On the approach of the

gentleman, the lady, by a sudden and dexterous motion other arm, would

throw off the end of her sleeve to him. The sleeve, being very long,

could be thrown in this way half across the room. The gentleman would

take the end of the sleeve, which represented, we are to suppose, the

hand of the lady, and, after kissing and saluting it in a most

respectful manner, he would resign it, and then the lady would draw it

back again upon her arm. This would be too ridiculous to be believed

if it were possible that any thing could be too ridiculous to be

believed in respect to the absurdities of fashion.

A great many of the customs and usages of social life which prevailed

in those days, as well as the fashions of dress, were inconvenient and

absurd. These the Czar did not hesitate to alter and reform by

proceedings of the most arbitrary and summary character. For instance,

it was the custom of all the great nobles, or boyars, as they were

called, to go in grand state whenever they moved about the city or in

the environs of it, attended always by a long train of their servants

and retainers. Now, as these followers were mostly on foot, the nobles

in the carriages, or, in the winter, in their sledges or sleighs, were

obliged to move very slowly in order to enable the train to keep up

with them. Thus the streets were full of these tedious processions,

moving slowly along, sometimes through snow and sometimes through rain,

the men bareheaded, because they must not be covered in the presence of

their master, and thus exposed to all the inclemency of an almost

Arctic climate. And what made the matter worse was, that it was not

the fashion for the nobleman to move on even as fast as his followers

might easily have walked. They considered it more dignified and grand

to go slowly. Thus, the more aristocratic a grandee was in spirit, and

the greater his desire to make a display of his magnificence in the

street, the more slowly he moved. If it had not been for the banners

and emblems, and the gay and gaudy colors in which many of the

attendants were dressed, these processions would have produced the

effect of particularly solemn funerals.

The Czar determined to change all this. First he set an example

himself of rapid motion through the streets. When he went out in his

carriage or in his sleigh, he was attended only by a very few persons,

and they were dressed in a neat uniform and mounted on good horses, and

his coachman was ordered to drive on at a quick pace. The boyars were

slow to follow this example, but the Czar assisted them considerably in

their progress toward the desired reform by making rules limiting the

number of idle attendants which they were allowed to have about them;

and then, if they would not dismiss the supernumeraries, he himself

caused them to be taken from them and sent into the army.

The motive of the Czar in making all these improvements and reforms was

his desire to render his own power as the sovereign of the country more

compact and efficient, and not any real and heartfelt interest in the

welfare and happiness of the people. Still, in the end, very excellent

results followed from the innovations which he thus introduced. They

were the commencement of a series of changes which so developed the

power and advanced the civilization of the country, as in the course of

a few subsequent reigns had the effect of bringing Russia into the

foremost rank among the nations of Europe. The progress which these

changes introduced continues to go on to the present time, and will,

perhaps, go on unimpeded for centuries to come.

[1] 1858.

CHAPTER X.

THE BATTLE OF NARVA.

1700-1701

Origin of the war with Sweden--Peace with the Turks--Charles XII--Siege

of Narva--The frontier--Plan of the campaign--Indignation of the King

of Sweden--Remonstrances of Holland and England--The King of Sweden at

Riga--the Czar a subordinate--General Croy--His plans--Operations of

the king--Surprise and defeat of the Russians--Terrible

slaughter--Whimsical plan for disposing of the prisoners--Effect upon

the Czar--New plans and arrangements

The reader will perhaps recollect how desirous Peter had long been to

extend his dominions toward the west, so as to have a sea-port under

his control on the Baltic Sea; for, at the time when he succeeded to

the throne, the eastern shores of the Baltic belonged to Poland and to

Sweden, so that the Russians were confined, in a great measure, in

their naval operations to the waters of the Black and Caspian Seas, and

to the rivers flowing into them. You will also recollect that when, at

the commencement of his tour, he arrived at the town of Riga, which

stands at the head of the Gulf of Riga, a sort of branch of the Baltic,

he had been much offended at the refusal of the governor of the place,

acting under the orders of the King of Sweden, to allow him to view the

fortifications there. He then resolved that Riga, and the whole

province of which it was the capital, should one day be his. The year

after he returned from his travels--that is, in 1699, the country being

by that time restored to its ordinary state of repose after the

suppression of the rebellion--he concluded that the time had arrived

for carrying his resolution into effect.

So he set a train of negotiations on foot for making a long truce with

the Turks, not wishing to have two wars on his hands at the same time.

When he had accomplished this object, he formed a league with the

kingdoms of Poland and Denmark to make war upon Sweden. So exactly

were all his plans laid, that the war with Sweden was declared on the