The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-05-09
PETER, THE MUSCOV|TE
The Most Savage Gentleman
That Ever Lived.
OZAR, BRIGAND AND REFORMER,
Marvellous Encrgy of This Msn of Force.
soldier. Shipbui!der and Sailmaker--Bow
He Qusiled n Revolt Cut on Eighty four
Heads With His Own Hands.

he Nu0iIeV u hGfph-tuISu Etghtyfou
Heads with Hia own Hands.
Copyright. lsai, by John Clark Ridrath.l
X
FIRST PASSAGES.
Gar Peter, the Muscovite, was with
out doubt the most savage gentleman
that ever lived. In him the forces of
barbarism and the forces Of the civilized
life W ere combined in perfect accord In
him violence and moderation were not
separate moods, but two manifestations
of the same character. His scowl and
his smile were only the two sides of the
same medallion. He could drink pint
of brandy at twoswallows without max
ing his eyes red. He could kill and make
love in the same act without changing
his coat. One time he wanted a German
princess (Wilholmina, sister Of Fred
erick the Great, tolls the story in her
diary) TO kiss him, and when she drew
back and struggled he snatched out his
sword and shouted, Kopi alb" Cut your
head off if you don'tv'
Vainly do we strive to know how
much history great man makes Old
fashioned chroniclers won Ill have us be-
heve with their sinSson2 philosophy
that the hero is the creator Of events
Thomas Carlyle could not free himself
from the delusion that man-the indi-
vidual - makes history. To him the
great facts of tho human drama seemed
to proceed from the single wills Of men
! from Caesar, from Charlemagne, from
/ Cromwell, from Peter, from Bonaparte.
/ 1t is easy to understand how the sage Of
Chelsea could believe in heroes. He who
could seriously suggest that Robert
Burns would have made better war
minister than William Pitt was capable
OF anything that might be struck from
the diapason Of absurdity.
Peter did not make Russia any more
than Russia made Peter, or as much,
but he was great personal force. Aft
or the flesh he was the son of the En-
peror Alexis-that is, he was Peter AL
exievitch. The seventeenth century was
threescore and twelve years old when
he came. In that year Charles II and
his cabal were in their heyday with a
company Of ladies dressed in scarlet
and fine linen, but otherwise undesira-
bic in society. In that year Nathaniel
Bacon was elected to the Virginia coun-
Gil, and in that year old Berkley thank
ed God that there was not free school
or printing press in his province. The
epoch was favorable to the apparition of
just such an imperial brigand and re-
former as Peter. The age solicited his
coming as much as the thirteenth CEN
tury had longed for Gcnghis Khan.
Peter was the youngest Of eleven chill
dren. The Czariua Maria Miloslavska,
first wife of Alexis, had eight children
six daughters aud two sons, Feodor
and the imbecile Ivan. Natalia Narush-
kin, the second wife. had two daughters
and one son-worth all the rest There
was thus great group and lesser
group in the family of Alexis, and the
lesser group was the greater for it in
cluded Peter. Teodor, by the death Of
his father, came to the thrOne--if such
barbalic structure might be called II
throne--in 1876. but he died in May Of
/ 1852, leaving "a condition hard to un-
derstand
By the imperial constitution Ivan, the
eldest son surviving, was entitled to
reign, but he could not, being fool.
OF the first six daughters of Alexis the
middle one, Sophia, was the genius.
She got herself declared regent for Ivan,
/ but presently the strelzui, or faction Of
the old Russians, who had aided her in
her conspiracy, tired Of woman rnle and
supported Peter in equal rank with
Ivan. Sophia put down the strelzui and
cut off the heads of 80, but she deemed
along with her own brother in order
that she might manage them both.
! The double throne which Sophia, the
czaritza dowager, invented was not
figure Of speech, but literal fact. 1t
exists to this day as piece Of old fur
niture among the royal rubbish Of Mos
cow. 1t has two seats and silken veil,
behind which the czaritza was won't to
sit out Of sight Looking at it, one is
reminded of the Hindoo trinity. Ivan
and Peter correspond to the Kami- Rati
and Sophia to silva, the Destroyer, be-
hind the throne.
The Naruishkins. or faction Of Pc
ter's mother, gradually gained the up
per hand, and the Miloslavskis, or fac
tion OF Ivan's mother, went to the wall.
The law Of evolution was illustrated in
the high places Of barbarism. In the
case of Peter there were only two places
which he might occupy and find sta
BILE equilibrium-the gallows and the
throne. Between the two extremes there
was no middle ground.
The education Of the boy czar was
something past finding out. He would
obey nobody. His intelligence was as
quick as his will was perverss and ire
sistible. From childhood be was ter
ror to all opposition. He took naturally
to drums and muskets and wanted TO
see the ocean. A German named Zotof.
man Of neither rauk nor character,
was Peters tutor. He fixed up some
kind Of colored prints representing the
few countries and facts with which he
was acquainted, and with this lurid de.
vice taught Peter history. In after
years the car, in sarcastic revenge,
conferred on old Zotof the honorary de-
gree Of archpope Of fools-a degree that
ought to have been perpetuated.
T. =