dividual were unworthy of consideration by the
side of those of the State. That was the case in France as well as in
Russia. Peter inherited the idea of autocratic power, and his travels
in Europe conveyed to him nothing to upset or contradict that idea. He
cannot, therefore, be considered in the light of a tyrant. He acted,
so far as he could know, within his prerogative, and did his duty as
he saw it.

Russia, with a thin and scattered population largely engaged in
agriculture, felt no impulse toward progress. The moujik lived as his
father had lived. He never came in contact with people of a superior
civilization who, by introducing new wants, could make him (p. 163)
discontented with his lot. Knowing no desire but to satisfy his
physical craving, he bore the extremes of heat and cold with equal
fortitude; the soil and his labor provided for his subsistence. A life
so sordid must either brutalize man or feed his imagination with the
unknown and dreaded forces of nature; superstition, deep and strong,
became part of the peasant's existence. It is generations before a
traditional and deep-rooted belief can be eradicated.

But Peter the Great gave as little thought to the moujik as did Louis
XIV to the peasants of France. His influence was exerted upon the
boyards, and among them the opposition was the stronger as they had
been imbued with Asiatic ideas under the Tartar yoke. Here the great
muscular strength of Peter rendered him great service. He did not
hesitate to use a stick upon the highest officials any more than Ivan
the Terrible had used his iron-tipped staff. Even Menzikoff was
chastized in this manner. Frederick the Great of Prussia did the same
afterwards. Nor was this method of punishing without its use. One day
when Peter was looking over the accounts of one of his nobles, he
proved to him that, whereas the boyard had been robbing the
government, he in turn had been robbed by his steward. The czar took
the noble by the collar and applied the stick with a muscular arm and
great vigor. After he had punished him to his heart's content, he let
him go, saying, "Now you had better go find your steward and settle
accounts with him."

It was Peter's purpose to make the Russians again into Europeans. (p. 164)
He rightly deemed it best to begin with externals, because they are
the object lessons of changes. The Russian boyard was attached to the
long caftan or tunic adopted from the Tartars, but above all