ich had been set for the purpose.

The letter stated that the Czar had sent the embassy to assure him of his
desire "to improve the affection and good correspondence which had always
existed, as well between his royal highness and himself as between their
illustrious ancestors." It said also that "the same embassy being from
thence to proceed to the court of Vienna, the Czar requested the king to
help them on their journey." And finally it expressed the thanks of the
Czar, for the "engineers and bombardiers" which the king had sent him
during the past year, and who had been so useful to him in the siege of
Azof.

The king, having read the letter, made a verbal reply to the embassadors,
asking them to thank the Czar in his name for the friendly sentiments
which his letter expressed, and for the splendid embassy which he had
sent to him.

All this time the Czar himself, the author of the letter, was standing
by, a quiet spectator of the scene, undistinguishable from the other
secretaries and attendants that formed the embassadors' train.

After the ceremony of audience was completed the embassadors withdrew.
They were reconducted to their lodgings with the same ceremonies as were
observed in their coming out, and then spent the evening at a grand
banquet provided for them by the elector. All the principal nobility of
Prussia were present at this banquet, and after it was concluded the town
was illuminated with a great display of fireworks, which continued until
midnight.

The sending of a grand embassage like this from one royal or imperial
potentate to another was a very common occurrence in those times. The
pomp and parade with which they were accompanied were intended equally
for the purpose of illustrating the magnificence of the government that
sent them, and of offering a splendid token of respect to the one to
which they were sent. Of course, the expense was enormous, both to the
sovereign who sent and to the one who received the compliment. But such
sovereigns as those were very willing to expend money in parades which
exhibited before the world the evidences of their own grandeur and power,
especially as the mass of the people, from whose toils the means of
defraying the cost was ultimately to come, were so completely held in
subjection by military power that they could not even complain, far less
could they take any effectual measures for calling their oppressors to
account. In governments that are o