appanages
which was leading to incessant wars, and to wrest from the princes
those prerogatives which limited the authority of the sovereign. This
was a formidable undertaking, requiring great sagacity and firmness,
but it would doubtless be promotive of the welfare of Russia to be
under the sway of one general sovereign, rather than to be exposed to
the despotism of a hundred petty and quarrelsome princes. Ivan III.
was anxious to accomplish this result without violating any treaty,
without committing any arbitrary or violent act which could rouse
opposition.

That he might triumph over the princes, it was necessary for him to
secure the affections of the people. The palace was consequently
rendered easy of access to them all. Appointed days were consecrated
to justice, and, from morning until evening, the grand prince listened
to any complaints from his subjects. The old magistrates had generally
forfeited all claim to esteem. Regarding only their own interests,
they trafficked in offices, favored their relatives, persecuted their
enemies and surrounded themselves with crowds of parasites who
stifled, in the courts of justice, all the complaints of the
oppressed. Novgorod was first brought into entire subjection to the
crown; then Pskov.

While affairs were moving thus prosperously in Russia, the horde upon
the Volga was also recovering its energies; and a new khan, Akhmet,
war-loving and inflated by the success which his sword had already
achieved, resolved to bring Russia again into subjection. He
accordingly, in the year 1480, sent an embassy, bearing an image of
the khan as their credentials, to Moscow, to demand the tribute which
of old had been paid to the Tartars. Ivan III. was in no mood to
receive the insult patiently. He admitted the embassage into the
audience chamber of his palace. His nobles, in imposing array, were
gathered around prepared for a scene such as was not unusual in those
barbaric times. As soon as the embassadors entered and were presented,
the image of the khan was dashed to the floor by the order of Ivan,
and trampled under feet; and all the Mogol embassadors, with the
exception of one, were slain.

"Go," said Ivan sternly to him, "go to your master and tell him what
you have seen; tell him that if he has the insolence again to trouble
my repose, I will treat him as I have served his image and his
embassadors."

This emphatic declaration of war was followed on both sides by the
must