CHAPTER XIX.BAD NEWS FROM MOSCOW.
To Admiral Carmarthen, of the British Navy, Peter of Russia wasindebted for one of the supremest pleasures of his life. This wasa review, or naval sham-fight, which the admiral organized for theTsar's benefit at Spithead. We can imagine how Peter, whose heart wasso set at this time upon ships and all matters connected with the seaand maritime affairs, must have gazed in rapture and delight at thebeautiful battle-ships that manoeuvred before his eyes; how he musthave knit his strong face, and bent his eagle glance which nothing everescaped, upon each turn and evolution of the vessels, and watched eachmanoeuvre, drinking in for his future guidance the reason for everymovement made and the probable result, had this been actual warfare,of every gun fired. There is no doubt that the young autocrat learnedmuch from this memorable scene, and laid to heart many hints to beutilized afterwards when he himself, in command of a Russian fleet,engaged and overcame a stronger fleet of the King of Sweden.
Peter's delight with the day's entertainment may be gauged by hisconversation, when it was ended, with Admiral Carmarthen. "Admiral," hesaid, "you are a lucky man! I would rather be the admiral of a Britishfleet such as this than the Tsar of all the Russias!"
Probably Peter's excited state of mind was responsible for thissomewhat exaggerated manner of expressing his satisfaction; but thereis no doubt that his enthusiasm and delight were perfectly sincere atthe time. Boris was present also, and his delight was no less thanthat of his master. He, too, felt that it must indeed be a delightfulposition to be in command of so magnificent a sea-army as this.
"Boris, Boris!" said Peter, as the two tall men stood side by sidewatching the beautiful spectacle, "shall I ever own a fleet like this,and a good seaport to keep it in?"
"That depends upon your Majesty," said Boris. "Every one knows thatPeter Alexeyevitch will perform anything to which he puts his hand andsets his heart!"
"Ah, Boris," said the Tsar, "I thought so too before we left Russia;but I am humbler now! Oh, for the sea, my Bear-eater--the sea! that iswhat we must fight for and live for. Our poor Russia is cramped andstifled for want of windows; we must break through her walls, Boris,and that as quickly as possible. I can build a fleet, there is no fearof that. If we had but a hundredth part of the seaboard that thesehappy Britons possess, I should be blessed indeed!"
"Never fear, your Majesty; we shall have seaports yet!" said Boris, towhom the matter presented no difficulty whatever, for did not Peterdesire it?
As the Tsar and his henchman walked through the streets of London, theyattracted considerable attention by reason both of their size and ofthe conduct of Peter, whose actions were at times very eccentric. Hewould stop people in the street, in order to ask questions as to themake of their clothes and hats and watch-chains. Once he seized thewig of a passing pedestrian, to that individual's surprise and alarm,who thought he had to deal with a gigantic lunatic. Peter carefullyexamined the wig, which was of a new-fashioned shape and did notplease him, gave a short laugh and a grunt of disgust, and clappedit back upon the man's head so violently that the unfortunate fellownearly fell forward upon his nose. He would enter jewellers' and othershops, and question the artificers very minutely as to their trade andcraft, frequently ending the conversation by inviting the shopman toremove his business to Moscow, where he should be assured of a finetrade among Peter's subjects. Sometimes these offers were accepted,and numbers of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, joiners, and otherskilled workmen were prevailed upon to travel to the far north, wherethey were subsequently well treated and made fortunes for themselves,while they were useful in teaching their crafts to the Russian people.
Couriers frequently passed between London and Moscow, and throughtheir good offices Boris was able to keep up a constant communicationwith his friend Nancy. The hunter was no great hand at letter writing,though he had long since learned the arts of reading and writing, ofwhich of course he had been ignorant while still the bear-hunter ofDubinka. In one of his epistles Boris wrote to this effect, the letterbeing partly in English and partly in Russian:--
"His Majesty is exceedingly pleased with this city [London], whereinare more people than would fill a score of Moscows. The people arekind and hospitable, but somewhat boastful, and think but little ofthe Russians. His Majesty deigns to take his pleasure in causing meto wrestle and otherwise contend with great wrestlers and swimmersand fighters of the English. In these matters there are some experterthan I, excepting in swimming. I have seen your friends and deliveredyour letters and packages, wherewith all were greatly pleased. Yourfriends made much of me, far more than I deserve. For their kindness Iam indebted to you, and also for many good words spoken of me in yourletters, portions of which they read to me.
"The Tsar and I had an adventure last night which might have ended inbloodshed, but ended actually only in laughter; for we were fallenupon by robbers, of whom there were five, in an outlying, lonely partnamed Hampstead. The robbers surprised us in the midst of this place,and would, no doubt, have cut our throats, but that his Majesty and I,being armed with thick oaken sticks, kept them at bay, and in processof time banged two of them on the head. The rest his Majesty, with someassistance from me, pitched into a small pond covered with green ooze,whence they issued half-drowned, and ran to their homes."
Nancy, on her part, told all the Moscow news and the progress of theship-building throughout the country, of which she heard much talk,for every one spoke of it. Nancy also mentioned that many reports werebeing disseminated in Moscow by the priest party to the effect thatthe Tsar had been drowned on his way to England. Others said that hehad been captured by the Queen of Sweden, placed in a barrel, androlled into the sea. The motive of these reports was obvious. If Peterwere dead, his widow, or his brother, or his son would be proclaimedhead of the realm, and in any case his policy would be reversed;foreigners would be sent out of the country, and Russia given back tothe Russians. It may be mentioned in this connection that so deeplywas the belief in Peter's death at this time rooted in the minds ofhundreds among the lower classes, both in Moscow and throughout thecountry, that to their dying day many of these believed that the manwho returned eventually from abroad, and assumed the government ofthe realm, though he certainly resembled Peter, was an impostor anda pretender, and that the real Tsar lay drowned at the bottom of theNorth Sea.
During his stay in London, Peter had many opportunities of conversationwith all classes of the subjects of William III. He visited countryhouses, where he startled the sober rural folks by the eccentricity ofhis manners--loving to amuse himself in rough and barbarous ways, suchas causing Boris to wheel him, afterwards himself wheeling Boris, in abarrow through a massive holly hedge at Saye's Court. The Tsar couldnot endure the ways of refinement and luxury, and preferred to sleep onthe floor rather than in a grand bed, and loved to drink quantities ofEnglish beer, which he condescended to admire.
Boris thought little of England from the point of view of the hunter.There were no woods, he said, fit to hide a bear or a wolf; as forhunting the fox, it was poor sport. The country was well enough, butnot in his line; he preferred the broad forests of his native land, andthe excitement and danger of hunting big game. In a word, Boris waswell tired of England when, at the end of a few months, Peter declaredthat he had seen enough, and would now depart homewards, taking Viennaon the way, and travelling slowly in order to see as much as possibleof every country visited.
The English king made Peter the most acceptable of presents at parting,in the shape of a small frigate of twenty-four guns. The delight ofthe Tsar in his new possession was immense, and his return voyage toHolland was made aboard of this vessel. But Peter, too, desired tooffer a memento of his visit to the hospitable British sovereign, anddid so in a characteristic manner; for, while bidding William farewell,he pressed into his hand a small object wrapped in a piece of dirtybrown paper, which he took out of his waistcoat pocket. This proved tobe a magnificent ruby, and was valued afterwards at ten thousand pounds.
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p; So the Tsar and Boris and the rest took ship and set sail for Hollandin the frigate which the English king had presented to his Russianbrother. And that voyage came well-nigh to being the last that any ofthe party were to undertake; for a terrific storm arose in the NorthSea, and for a day or two they were uncertain whether they should liveor die. The Tsar's suite were greatly concerned at their master'sdanger, knowing well that the destiny of Russia was kept by thisman in the hollow of his hand. But Peter himself professed to haveperfect confidence in the happy outcome of the voyage; he inquired ofhis long-visaged companions whether they had ever heard of a Tsar ofRussia being drowned in the North Sea? All admitted that they certainlynever had read of such a disaster! "Very well then," said Peter; "Idon't intend to be the first to set the example!" Whereupon the suitetook heart of grace, and trusted to the good luck of the Tsar to pullthem through, which it did; for the good ship sailed safely into port,and was then sent round to Archangel, while the Tsar and his embassycontinued their journey by land, and in due course arrived at Vienna.
Here Peter had intended to stay some little while, in order to learnwhatever the Austrians might have to teach him; but disquieting newscame from Moscow, which compelled him to give up the contemplatedvisit, and to make all the haste he could towards his own capital. Sobad was the news, indeed, that the Tsar was at his blackest and mostsavage during the whole of the hurried journey home, and those pleasedhim best who talked least, and left him most alone to his gloomythoughts. Like a storm-cloud that rushes over the face of the sky, theangry Tsar flew over the hundreds of miles that lay between him and theobjects of his wrath; and like the piled-up masses of black vapour thatburst and vomit forth water and lightning, so burst the anger of Peterupon those who had vexed him, when, a very few days after receivingthe news, he dashed into Moscow with a few attendants only, the restfollowing as quickly as they could.
The purport of the letter received by Peter in Vienna was certainlydisquieting enough, for the epistle contained an account of amilitary revolt, and of a march upon the capital by the Streltsi. Itappeared that these regiments, ever on the watch for opportunities ofinterfering in existing affairs, had sent a deputation to Moscow toinquire into the truth of the rumours as to the absence or death of theTsar, and to demand of the authorities orders for the immediate returnof all the Streltsi regiments to Moscow. Their wives and families werestill in the capital, and they had been absent long enough at Azof andelsewhere. Besides, political affairs demanded their presence in thecapital.
The deputation were unable to obtain the ear of the authorities, andwere dismissed with scant ceremony from Moscow--very loath to leavethe city, and extremely angry with those who would not listen to theirgrievances.
Meanwhile the main body of the Streltsi had become impatient, and sentword that, if not summoned to Moscow in compliance with their request,they intended to come without waiting for an invitation.
It was at this stage of affairs that letters were despatched to theTsar at Vienna, summoning him to his capital, which was menaced by adescent upon it by the dissatisfied Streltsi regiments.
Meanwhile, however, the two generals, Schein and Gordon, whom Peter hadleft at the head of military affairs in his absence, proceeded wiselyto take the bull by the horns. They prepared a moderate force, selectedfrom the new regiments, and marched towards the seat of disturbance.
Before they had gone very far they met emissaries from the Streltsi,who informed them that the massed regiments of that body were infull march upon Moscow, with intent to chase the foreigner from thesoil of holy Russia; to place the Grand-Duchess Sophia, late regent,upon the throne in lieu of the Tsar Peter, who, they had heard, wasdead; and to restore the old _regime_ and the good old days of aStreltsi-dominated Moscow, without a foreigner in the place to seteverything upside down and worry the souls of the priests.
Gordon sent these men back with a message to their comrades to get homeas quickly as might be to their quarters, and there to pray Heaven toso rule the heart of the Tsar Peter (who was quite alive enough to cutthe throat of every Streletz in Russia), that he might be led to lookwith indulgence upon their foolish imaginings, and forgive them inconsideration of their instant and complete submission, tendered fromtheir barracks.
But the Streltsi would not believe the words of Gordon, and declaredthat they must and would come to Moscow in order to see with their owneyes that all was well with the Tsar and the country.
Thereupon Gordon and Schein met these misguided men half way as theymarched upon Moscow. The Streltsi would not surrender at demand, andtherefore a volley was fired over their heads. This set the bravefellows running, which proved that their courage was scarcely equal tothe noise they made in the world. Three thousand of them were takenprisoners and brought to Moscow; the rest were permitted to escape andreturn to their own quarters.
Such was the state of affairs when the enraged young Tsar dashed intoMoscow in his angriest and blackest mood, and with his mind set uponmaking a terrible example of this body of men, who had been a thorn inthe flesh to him since his first experience of their eccentricities, atthe age of ten.
How he carried out his intentions, and the bearing which this affairhad upon the career of our bear-hunter, shall be treated of in thefollowing chapter.