ods; let us sell our
houses and put our wives and children out to service; let us seek a
man who will fight for the national faith, and march under his
banner." He set the example by giving one-third of all he possessed,
and others followed. Those who refused to contribute were compelled to
do so. Minine was elected treasurer; he accepted on condition that his
orders should be obeyed without delay. Believing that the leadership
should be given to a noble, Minine went to Prince Pojarski who (p. 135)
lived in the neighborhood. Pojarski accepted the command, and ordered
three days of fasting and prayer. The streltsi were equipped as well
as the men-at-arms; but the services of Cossacks and foreign
mercenaries were refused.

An army was collected and marched toward Moscow, with bishops and
monks carrying holy eikons at the head; at Iaroslaf they were
reenforced by other troops. They laid siege to the Kremlin; an attempt
to relieve the fortress by the Poles was defeated. At last the
garrison was forced to surrender. Among the Russian prisoners who
regained their liberty was a fifteen-year-old boy, Michael Romanof,
the son of Philarete and Marfa.

Sigismund was on the way to reenforce the garrison, but hearing of its
surrender, he fell back. An assembly was convoked to elect a czar. It
was composed of delegates of the clergy, the nobles, the men-at-arms,
the merchants, towns, and districts. There was much bickering, but all
were agreed that no alien should be presented. When the name of
Michael Romanof was called, it was received with enthusiasm, and he
was declared elected. (1613.) The delegates remembered the relation
between his family and Ivan the Terrible, and the services rendered by
his father, the Metropolitan Philarete. There is a story that the King
of Poland, when he heard of Michael's election, tried to kidnap him at
Kostroma, and that a peasant guide led the party astray on a dark
night. When the Poles discovered it, he was struck dead. This is the
subject of a famous opera "A Life for the Czar."

Russia's efforts to resume intercourse with Europe, which during the
Tartar yoke had been suspended, were continued under Godounof. He (p. 136)
sent an ambassador to Queen Elizabeth with a letter, in which he
says:--"I have learned that the Queen had furnished help to the Turks
against the Emperor of Germany. We are astonished at it, as to act
thus is not proper for Christian sovereigns; and you, our well-belove