hich he had
built up country on the banks of a river.

Soon after this Azof was taken. One of the conditions of the surrender
was that the treacherous artilleryman should be delivered up to the
Czar. He was taken to Moscow, and there put to death with tortures too
horrible to be described. They did not deny that the man had been
greatly injured by his Russian commander, but they told him that what
he ought to have done was to appeal to the emperor for redress, and not
to seek his revenge by traitorously giving up to the enemy the trust
committed to his charge.

The emperor acquired great fame throughout Europe by the success of his
operations in the siege of Azof. This success also greatly increased
his interest in the building of ships, especially as he now, since Azof
had fallen into his hands, had a port upon an open sea.

In a word, Peter was now very eager to begin at once the building ships
of war. He was determined that he would have a fleet which would
enable him to go out and meet the Turks in the Black Sea. The great
difficulty was to provide the necessary funds. To accomplish this
purpose, Peter, who was never at all scrupulous in respect to the means
which he adopted for attaining his ends, resorted at once to very
decided measures. Besides the usual taxes which were laid upon the
people to maintain the war, he ordained that a certain number of
wealthy noblemen should each pay for one ship, which, however, as some
compensation for the cost which the nobleman was put to in building it,
he was at liberty to call by his own name. The same decree was made in
respect to a number of towns, monasteries, companies, and public
institutions. The emperor also made arrangements for having a large
number of workmen sent into Russia from Holland, and from Venice, and
from other maritime countries. The emperor laid his plans in this way
for the construction and equipment of a fleet of about one hundred
ships and vessels, consisting of frigates, store-ships, bomb-vessels,
galleys, and galliasses. These were all to be built, equipped, and
made in all respects ready for sea in the space of three years; and if
any person or party failed to have his ship ready at that time, the
amount of the tax which had been assessed to him was to be doubled.

In all these proceedings, the Czar, as might have been expected from
his youth and his headstrong character, acted in a very summary, and in
many respects in an arbitrar