PETER I. justly styled Peter the Great, czar, and afterwards emperor, of Russia, founder of the Russian empire; for though the country was well known, and of great antiquity, yet it had no extent of power, of political influence, or of general commerce in Europe, till his time. He was born in 1672; and was proclaimed czar when but ten years of age, in exclusion of John his elder brother, who, being of a sickly constitution, was at the same time very weak in his understanding. The princess Sophia, his half-sister, made an insurrection in favour of John; and to put an end to the civil war, it was at last agreed that the two brothers should jointly share the imperial dignity. Peter had been very ill brought up, not only through the general defects of the Russian education, but likewise through the arts of the princess Sophia, who surrounded him with every thing that might stifle his natural desire of knowledge, deprive his mind, and enervate it with pleasures. Notwithstanding this, his inclination for military exercises discovered itself in his tenderest years. He formed a company of 50 men, commanded by foreign officers, clothed and exercised after the German manner. He entered himself into the lowest post, that of a drummer; and never rose otherwise than as a soldier of fortune. Herein his design was to teach his nobility, that merit, not birth, was the only title to military employments. He reinforced his company with several others, till at last he had got together a considerable body of soldiers. As
he then had no war on his hands, he exercised them in all sorts of mock-engagements, and by this means secured to himself a body of well-disciplined troops. The fight of a Dutch vessel, which he had met with on a lake belonging to one of his pleasure-houses, made such an impression on his mind, that he conceived the almost impracticable design of forming a navy. His first care was to get some Hollanders to build some small vessels at Moscow; and he passed two successive summers on board English or Dutch ships, which set out from Archangel, that he might instruct himself in every branch of naval affairs. In 1696 czar John died, and Peter was now sole master of the empire. In 1698, he sent an embassy to Holland; and went incognito in the retinue, and visited England as well as Holland, in order to inform himself fully in the art of ship-building. At Amsterdam he worked in the yard as a private ship carpenter, under the name of Peter Michaelof; but he has been often heard to say, that if he had never gone to England, he had still remained ignorant of that art. In 1700 he had got together a body of standing forces, consisting of 30,000 foot, and now the vast project he had formed displayed itself in all its parts. He opened his dominions, which till then had been shut up, having first sent the chief nobility of his empire into foreign countries to improve themselves in knowledge and learning. He invited into Russia all the foreigners he could meet with, who were capable of instructing his subjects in any manner, and offered them great encouragement to settle in his dominions. This raised many discontents; and the despotic authority he exerted on that occasion was scarcely powerful enough to suppress them. In 1700, being strengthened by the alliance of Augustus king of Poland, he made war on Charles XII. king of Sweden. His first ill success did not deter him: for he used to say, I know that my armies must be overcome for a great while; but even this will at last teach them to conquer. He afterwards gained considerable advantages, and founded Petersburg in 1703. In 1709 he gained a complete victory over the Swedes at Pultowa. In 1712, he was inclosed by the Turks on the banks of the Pruth; and seemed inevitably lost, had not the Czarina Catherine bribed the grand vizier, and the czar's prudence completed his deliverance. In 1716, he made a tour through Germany and Holland, and visited the royal academy of sciences at Paris. It would be endless to enumerate all the various establishments for which the Russians are obliged to him: He formed an army according to the manner of the politest and most experienced nations: he fitted out fleets in all the four seas which border upon Russia: he caused many strong fortresses to be raised after the best plans; and made convenient harbours: he introduced arts and sciences into his dominions, and freed religion from many superstitious abuses: he made laws, built cities, cut canals, &c. &c.; was generous in rewarding, impartial in punishing; faithful, laborious, and humble; yet was not free from a certain roughness of temper natural to his nation. He had indeed cured himself of excess in drinking; but he has been branded with several other vices, particularly cruelty. He published the unfortunate history of his son prince Alexei; towards whom some blame his severity, while others think it no more than was necessary. He perfectly knew
Peterpence knew the honour due to persons of merit; and not only heaped honours upon them during their life, but gave them marks of esteem even after their death. He died of the strangury in 1725, and left the world with the magnanimity of a hero and the piety of a Christian.