The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia · Voltaire
CHAP. XXIX.
These accusations, thus handed down by Lamberti, were soon spread throughout Europe; and, as there still exist a great number of pieces, both in print and manuscript, which may give a sanction to the belief of this fact to the latest posterity, I think it is my duty to mention, in this place, what is come to my knowledge from unexceptionable authority. In the first place, then, I take it upon me to declare, that the person who furnished Lamberti with this strange anecdote, was in fact a native of Russia, but of a foreign extraction, and who himself did not reside in that country, at the time this event happened, having left it several years before. I was formerly acquainted with him; he had been in company with Lamberti, at the little town of Nyon,[109] whither that writer had retired, and where I myself have often been. This very man declared to me, that he had never told this story to Lamberti, but in the light of a report, which had been handed about at that time. This example may suffice to shew, how easy it was in former times, before the art of printing was found out, for one man to destroy the reputation of another, in the minds of whole nations, by reason that manuscript histories were in a few hands only, and not exposed to general examination and censure, or of the observations of contemporaries, as they now are. A single line in Tacitus or Sallust, nay, even in the authors of the most fabulous legends was enough to render a great prince odious to the half of mankind, and to perpetuate his name with infamy to successive generations.
How was it possible that the czar could have beheaded his son with his own hand, when extreme unction was administered to the latter in the presence of the whole court? Was he dead when the sacred oil was poured upon his head? When or how could this dissevered head have been rejoined to its trunk? It is notorious, that the prince was not left alone a single moment, from the first reading of his sentence to him to the instant of his death. Besides, this story of the czar's having had recourse to the sword, acquits him at least of having made use of poison. I will allow, that it is somewhat uncommon, that a young man in the vigour of his days should die of a sudden fright, occasioned by hearing the sentence of his own death read to him, and especially when it was a sentence that he expected; but, after all, physicians will tell us that this is not a thing impossible.
If the czar dispatched his son by poison, as so many authors would persuade us, he by that means deprived himself of every advantage he might expect from this fatal process, in convincing all Europe that he had a right to punish every delinquent. He rendered all the reasons for pronouncing the condemnation of the czarowitz suspected; and, in fact, accused himself. If he was desirous of the death of his son, he was in possession of full power to have caused the sentence to be put in execution: would a man of any prudence then, would a sovereign, on whom the eyes of all his neighbours were fixed, have taken the base and dastardly method of poisoning the person, over whose devoted head he himself already held the sword of justice? Lastly, would he have suffered his memory to have been transmitted to posterity as an assassin and a poisoner, when he could so easily have assumed the character of an upright though severe judge?
It appears then, from all that has been delivered on this subject in the preceding pages, that Peter was more the king than the parent; and that he sacrificed his own son to the sentiments of the father and lawgiver of his country, and to the interest of his people, who, without this wholesome severity, were on the verge of relapsing again into that state from which he had taken them. It is evident that he did not sacrifice this son to the ambition of a step-mother, or to the son he had by her, since he had often threatened the czarowitz to disinherit him, before Catherine brought him that other son, whose infirm infancy gave signs of a speedy death, which actually happened in a very short time afterwards. Had Peter taken this important step merely to please his wife, he must have been a fool, a madman, or a coward; neither of which, most certainly, could be laid to his charge. But he foresaw what would be the fate of his establishments, and of his new-born nation, if he had such a successor as would not adopt his views. The event has verified this foresight: the Russian empire is become famous and respectable throughout Europe, from which it was before entirely separated; whereas, had the czarowitz succeeded to the throne, every thing would have been destroyed. In fine, when this catastrophe comes to be seriously considered, the compassionate heart shudders, and the rigid applauds.
This great and terrible event is still fresh in the memories of mankind; and it is frequently spoken of as a matter of so much surprise, that it is absolutely necessary to examine what contemporary writers have said of it. One of these hireling scribblers, who has taken on him the title of historian, speaks thus of it in a work which he has dedicated to count Bruhl, prime minister to his Polish majesty, whose name indeed may seem to give some weight to what he advances. 'Russia was convinced that the czarowitz owed his death to poison, which had been given him by his mother-in-law.' But this accusation is overturned by the declaration which the czar made to the duke of Holstein, that the empress Catherine had advised him to confine his son in a monastery. With regard to the poison which the empress is said to have given afterwards to her husband, that story is sufficiently destroyed by the simple relation of the affair of the page and pocket-book. What man would think of making such a memorandum as this, 'I must remember to confine my wife in a convent?' Is this a circumstance of so trivial a nature, that it must be set down lest it should be forgotten? If Catherine had poisoned her son-in-law and her husband she would have committed crimes; whereas, so far from being suspected of cruelty, she had a remarkable character for lenity and sweetness of temper.
It may now be proper to shew what was the first cause of the behaviour of the czarowitz, of his flight, and of his death, and that of his accomplices, who fell by the hands of the executioner. It was owing then to mistaken notions in religion, and to a superstitious fondness for priests and monks. That this was the real source from whence all his misfortunes were derived, is sufficiently apparent from his own confession, which we have already set before the reader, and in particular, by that expression of the czar in his letter to his unhappy son, 'A corrupt priesthood will be able to turn you at pleasure.' The following is, almost word for word, the manner in which a certain ambassador to the court of Russia explains these words.--Several ecclesiastics, says he, fond of the ancient barbarous customs, and regretting the authority they had lost by the nation having become more civilized, wished earnestly to see prince Alexis on the throne, from whose known disposition they expected a return of those days of ignorance and superstition which were so dear to them. In the number of these was Dozitheus, bishop of Rostow. This prelate feigned a revelation from St. Demetrius, and that the saint had appeared to him, and had assured him as from God himself, that the czar would not live above three months; that the empress Eudocia, who was then confined in the convent of Susdal (and had taken the veil under the name of sister Helena), and the princess Mary the czar's sister, should ascend the throne and reign jointly with prince Alexis.
Eudocia and the princess Mary were weak enough to credit this imposture, and were even so persuaded of the truth of this prediction, that the former quitted her habit and the convent, and throwing aside the name of sister Helena, reassumed the imperial title and the ancient dress of the czarina's, and caused the name of her rival Catherine to be struck out of the form of prayer. And when the lady abbess of the convent opposed these proceedings, Eudocia answered her haughtily--That as Peter had punished the strelitzes who had insulted his mother, in like manner would prince Alexis punish those who had offered an indignity to his. She caused the abbess to be confined to her apartment. An officer named Stephen Glebo was introduced into the convent; this man Eudocia made use of as the instrument of her designs, having previously won him over to her interest by heaping favours on him. Glebo caused Dozitheus's prediction to be spread over the little town of Susdal, and the neighbourhood thereof. But the three months being nearly expired, Eudocia reproached the bishop with the czar's being still alive, 'My father's sins,' answered Dozitheus, 'have been the cause of this; he is still in purgatory, and has acquainted me therewith.' Upon this Eudocia caused a thousand masses for the dead to be said, Dozitheus assuring her that this would not fail of having the desired effect: but in about a month afterwards, he came to her and told, that his father's head was already out of purgatory; in a month afterwards he was freed as far as his waist, so that then he only stuck in purgatory by his feet; but as soon as they should be set free, which was the most difficult part of the business, the czar would infallibly die.
The princess Mary, persuaded by Dozitheus, gave herself up to him, on condition that his father should be immediately released from purgatory, and the prediction accomplished, and Glebo continued his usual correspondence with the old czarina. It was chiefly on the faith of these predictions that the czarowitz quitted the kingdom, and retired into a foreign country, to wait for the death of his father. However the whole scheme was soon discovered; Dozitheus and Glebo were seized; the letters of the princess Mary to Dozitheus, and those of sister Helena to Glebo, were read in the open senate. In consequence of which, the princess Mary was shut up in the fortress of Schusselbourg, and the old czarina removed to another convent, where she was kept a close prisoner. Dozitheus and Glebo, together with the other accomplices of these idle and superstitious intrigues, were put to the torture, as were likewise the confidants of the czarowitz's flight. His confessor, his preceptor, and the steward of his household, all died by the hands of the executioner. Such then was the dear and fatal price at which Peter the Great purchased the happiness of his people, and such were the numberless obstacles he had to surmount in the midst of a long and dangerous war without doors, and an unnatural rebellion at home. He saw one half of his family plotting against him, the majority of the priesthood obstinately bent to frustrate his designs, and almost the whole nation for a long time opposing its own felicity, of which as yet it was not become sensible. He had prejudices to overcome, and discontents to sooth. In a word, there wanted a new generation formed by his care, who would at length entertain the proper ideas of happiness and glory, which their fathers were not able to comprehend or support.
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