Peter the Great | Page 6

had sent to the spot. Couvansky's guard was at once overpowered, and both he and his son were taken prisoners. They were hurried at once to a house, where preparations for receiving them had already been made, and there, without any delay, sentence of death against them both, on a charge of treason, was read to them, and their heads were cut off on the spot.
The news of this execution spread with great rapidity, and it produced, of course, an intense excitement and commotion among all the Guards as fast as it became known to them. They threatened vengeance against the government for having thus assassinated, as they expressed it, their chief and father. They soon put themselves in motion, and began murdering, plundering, and destroying more furiously than ever. The violence which they displayed led to a reaction. A party was formed, even among the Guards, of persons that were disposed to discountenance these excesses, and even to submit to the government. The minister Galitzin took advantage of these dissensions to open a communication with those who were disposed to return to their duty. He managed the affair so well that, in the end, the great body of the soldiers were brought over, and, finally, they themselves, of their own accord, slew the officers who had been most active in the revolt, and offered their heads to the minister in token of their submission. They also implored pardon of the government for the violence and excess into which they had been led. Of course, this pardon was readily granted. The places of Couvansky and of the other officers who had been slain were filled by new appointments, who were in the interest of the Princess Sophia, and the whole corps returned to their duty. Order was now soon fully restored in Moscow, rendering it safe for Sophia and her court to leave the monastery and return to the royal palace in the town. Galitzin was promoted to a higher office, and invested with more extended powers than he had yet held, and Sophia found herself finally established as the real sovereign of the country, though, of course, she reigned, in the name of her brothers.

[1] The Russian form of these names is Foedor [Transcriber's note: Feodor?] and Ivan.
[2] These celebrations were somewhat similar to the birthday celebrations of England and America, only the day on which they were held was not the birth-day of the lady, but the f��te-day, as it was called, of her patron saint--that is, of the saint whose name she bore. All the names for girls used in those countries where the Greek or the Catholic Church prevails are names of saints, each one of whom has in the calendar a certain day set apart as her f��te-day. Each girl considers the saint from whom she is named as her patron saint, and the f��te-day of this saint, instead of her own birth-day, is the anniversary which is celebrated in honor of her.
CHAPTER II.
THE PRINCESS'S DOWNFALL.
1684-1869
Sophia at the height of her power--Military expeditions--The Cham of Tartary--Mazeppa--Origin and history--His famous punishment--Subsequent history--The war unsuccessful--Sophia's artful policy--Rewards and honors to the army--The opposition--Their plans--Reasons for the proposed marriage--The intended wife--Motives of politicians--Results of Peter's marriage--Peter's country house--Return of Galitzin--The princess's alarm--The Cossacks--Sophia's plot--The commander of the Guards--Prince Galitzin--Details of the plot--Manner in which the plot was discovered--Messengers dispatched--The sentinels--The detachment arrives--Peter's place of refuge--Sophia's pretenses--The Guards--Sophia attempts to secure them--They adhere to the cause of Peter--Sophia's alarm--Her first deputation--Failure of the deputation--Sophia appeals to the patriarch--His mission fails--Sophia's despair--Her final plans--She is repulsed from the monastery--The surrender of Thekelavitaw demanded--He is brought to trial--He is put to the torture--His confessions--Value of them--Modes of torture applied--Various punishments inflicted--Galitzin is banished--His son shares his fate--Punishment of Thekelavitaw--Decision in respect to Sophia--Peter's public entry into Moscow--He gains sole power--Character and condition of John--Subsequent history of Sophia
The Princess Sophia was now in full possession of power, so that she reigned supreme in the palaces and in the capital, while, of course, the ordinary administration of the affairs of state, and the relations of the empire with foreign nations, were left to Galitzin and the other ministers. It was in 1684 that she secured possession of this power, and in 1689 her regency came to an end, so that she was, in fact, the ruler of the Russian empire for a period of about five years.
During this time one or two important military expeditions were set on foot by her government. The principal was a campaign in the southern part of the empire for the conquest of the Crimea, which country, previous to that time, had belonged to the Turks. Poland was at that period a very powerful kingdom, and the Poles, having become involved in a war with the Turks, proposed