humiliating them and the Churchmen that he assembled (p. 118)
delegates of those two classes to confer with representatives of the
merchants of Moscow and Smolensk, about the war with Poland. Ivan
addressed the assembly in person, and it was decided that the war
should continue.

It was under his reign that British traders accidentally discovered
the White Sea and the mouth of the Dwina. They came overland to Moscow
where they were well received and secured several privileges. Ivan was
anxious to conclude an offensive-defensive alliance with Elizabeth of
England, and proposed an agreement to furnish each other with an
asylum if either of them should be compelled to fly from the country
through being defeated by an enemy or the rebellion of their subjects.
Elizabeth did not fancy such an alliance, and declined the offer of an
asylum, "finding," as she declared, "by the grace of God no dangers of
the sort in her dominions." Ivan never ceased recurring to, and
pleading for, such an agreement, thus showing his ever present
suspicions.

After commercial intercourse was established with England, and British
traders settled in Moscow, Ivan continued to show them his favor. He
was himself the greatest merchant of Russia. The furs which he
received from Siberia were sold to the foreign merchants at the fairs.
His agents went into the provinces where they compelled the people to
sell him furs, wax, honey, etc., at such prices as he chose to pay,
and the foreign merchants had to buy them from him at a high price. He
also bought the imported goods and sold them to Russian merchants.
They were not permitted to buy from anybody else, until the goods (p. 119)
of the czar were sold.

At the beginning of his reign, in 1551, Ivan was preparing an
expedition to Kazan, and in June of the following year he descended
the Volga and laid siege to that city. It was captured after a brave
defense, when a number of the people were massacred and the rest sold
as slaves. This conquest was followed by that of Astrakhan in 1554;
the Volga from its source to its mouth was thereafter a Russian river.
The Cossacks of the Don also submitted to him.

The European countries bordering on Russia dreaded that country's
growing power. Ivan, after his coronation, sent to western Europe to
engage a number of engineers and mechanics; these men were stopped on
the road, and none of them ever reached Moscow. Sigismund of Poland
even threatened to kill the