rection broke
out, and the old Russian militia, the Strelitz, mutinied, and plotted
to exterminate the Germans and all the abettors of foreign innovation.
The movement was crushed by Gordon, and Peter on his return was
undisputed master. He then plunged into war with Sweden for the
Baltic provinces--that is, for access to the sea, which was the highway
to all the world. Beaten at first, but not discouraged, he organised
a new army, while Charles XII overran Poland and dictated terms of
peace in the heart of Germany.

It then appeared that the Russians, like most nations when they are
ably commanded, were the raw material of good soldiers. Charles came
back to Russia from his Saxon campaign laden with glory, and marched
on Moscow by Minsk, Mohilev, the Beresina--very much the route which
Napoleon followed. At the instigation of Mazeppa he turned aside to
the Ukraine, in the hope of raising the Cossacks against the Tsar.
At Pultawa, near the Dnieper, he was defeated, and fled for refuge
to Turkey. The work of Gustavus, who had made Sweden so great, was
undone, and Russia succeeded to the vacant place among the Powers.

The supreme object of Peter's policy was attained. He was in
possession of the Baltic coast north of the Dwina. Finland was
restored, but he retained Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, from Riga to
Viborg. On the Neva, where the Gulf of Finland penetrates farthest
inland, he fixed his capital. The place was a swamp, that swallowed
the tallest trunks of trees, and the workmen perished by fever. But
an island in the mouth of the river made it impregnable by sea. It
was free from traditions and reactionary memories, looking only to the
future and the new things that the commerce with the world would
bring; a gate for the inflow of the forces by which its founder would
transform the nation. As part of the same transformation the Tsar of
Muscovy became Emperor of Russia. It was a claim to the Byzantine
inheritance, and a menace to the Austrian successor of the Western
Empire. This was faint and distant; and Peter remained on friendly
terms with Vienna. But the title was coldly received by Europe, and
was not finally recognised until forty years after his death.

The persuasions by which Peter bent Russia to his will were base and
atrocious; for, although one of the greatest men that have influenced
the course of Christian history, he is undoubtedly the worst of them;
but he was not working for himself;