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 heads of the

principal offenders were afterward cut off and set up on poles at the

four corners of a square inclosure made for the purpose, the impaled

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 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 Alexis for the

accomplishment of their schemes. Alexis had promised to make a full

and complete 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 endeavored to conceal the

rest. In a short time, however, many things that he had at first

denied or evaded were fully proved by other testimony taken in 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 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 any

thing that he said, and lost almost all sympathy for him in his

distress.

The examination 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 opposed to the reforms and improvements of the Czar,

and particularly to the introduction of the European civilization into

the country, who were desirous of effecting a revolution, and who

wished to avail themselves of the quarrel between Alexis and his father

to promote their schemes. Alexis was 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 insincere, 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 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 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 Afrosinia. As has already been stated, she had

been taken by Alexis as a slave, and forced, against her 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 the judges. Her testimony was of great value

in many points, and contributed very essentially toward elucidating the

whole affair.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF ALEXIS.

1718

Condition of Alexis--The two tribunals--Their powers--The Czar calls

for a decision--His addresses to the two councils--Deliberation of the

clergy--Their answer--Their quotations from Scripture--Cautious

language used by the bishops--They suggest clemency and

mercy--Additional confessions made by Alexis--The priest--Tolstoi sent

to Alexis--The Czar's three final questions--Alexis's three

answers--His account of the manner in which he had been educated--His

feelings toward his father--His attempts to maim himself--His

treasonable designs--Alexis's confession sent to the council--Decision

of the council--The promise of pardon--Forfeiture of it--Conclusion of

the sentence--The signatures--The 6th of July--The Czar's mental

struggles--Alexis brought out to hear his sentence--Overwhelmed with

dismay--Visit of his father--Sorrowful scene--Alexis sends a second

time for his father--His death--Czar's circular--The body laid in

state--Rumors circulated--Funeral ceremonies--The opposition broken

up--The mother of Alexis--Afrosinia--The Czar pardons her

The examinations and investigations described in the last chapter were

protracted through a period of several months. They were commenced in

February, and were not concluded until June. During all this time

Alexis had been kept in close confinement, except when he had been

brought out before his judges for the various examinations and

cross-examinations to which he had been subjected; and as the truth in

respect to his designs became more and more fully developed, and the

danger in respect to the result increased, he sank gradually into a

state of distress and terror almost impossible to be conceived.

The tribunals before whom he was tried were not the regular judicial

tribunals of the country. They were, on the other hand, two grand

convocations of all the great official dignitaries of the Church and of

the state, that were summoned expressly for this purpose--not to

_decide_ the case, for, according to the ancient customs of the Russian

empire, that was the sole and exclusive province of the Czar, but to

aid him in investigating it, and then, if called upon, to give him

their counsel in respect to the decision of it. One of these

assemblies consisted of the ecclesiastical authorities, the

archbishops, the bishops, and other dignitaries of the Church. The

other was composed of nobles, ministers of state, officers of the army

and navy in high command, and other great civil and military

functionaries. These two assemblies met and deliberated in separate

halls, and pursued their investigations in respect to the several

persons implicated in the affair, as they were successively brought

before them, under the direction of the Czar, though the final disposal

of each case rested, it was well understood, with him alone.

At length, in the month of June, when all the other cases had been

disposed of, and the proof in respect to Alexis was considered

complete, the Czar sent in a formal address to each of these

conventions, asking their opinion and advice in respect to what he

ought to do with his son.