th a rich ransom, having already
beggared it by suffering lawless followers to plunder it uninterruptedly
before he interfered, and by demanding an act of submission. But in this
act he contrived to insert some words of ambiguous tendency, under the
shelter of which he might, when his own time arrived, leap upon his prey
with impunity.

The confusion into which the Novgorodians were thrown and the great
reduction of strength which they suffered in the contest enabled Ivan
to deprive them of some of their tributaries, under the pretence of
rendering them a service, so that their exhaustion was seized upon as a
fresh source of injustice. The Permians having offered some indignity
to the republic, Ivan interfered, and transferred the commerce of that
people with Germany to Moscow; and, on another occasion, when the Livoman
knights attempted an aggression, Ivan sent his ambassadors and troops
to force a negotiation in his own name; thus actually depriving both
Novgorod and Pskof, they being mutually concerned, of the right of making
peace and war in their own behalf. By insidious measures like these he
continued to oppress and absorb the once independent city that claimed
and kept so towering an ascendency. But not satisfied with such means of
accumulating the supreme power, he sowed dissensions between the rich
classes and the poor, and after fomenting fictitious grievances,
terminating in open quarrel, he succeeded in having all complaints laid
before him for decision. Then, going among them, he impoverished the
wealthy by the lavish presents his visits demanded, and captivated the
imagination of the multitude by the dazzling splendor of his retinues and
the flexible quality of his justice. The time was now approaching for
a more explicit declaration of his views. On pretence of these
disagreements he loaded some of the principal citizens, the oligarchs of
the republic, with chains and sent them to Moscow. It was so arranged
that these nobles were denounced by the mob; and Ivan, in acceding to
their demand for vengeance, secured the allegiance of the great bulk of
the population. The stratagem succeeded; and with each new violation of
justice he gained an accession of popular favor.

The progress of the scheme against the liberties of Novgorod was slow,
but inevitable. The inhabitants gradually referred all their disputes to
the Grand Prince; and he, profiting by the growing desire to erect him
into the sole judge of the