The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

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Voltaire. The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

CHAP. I

CHAP. II

CHAP. III

CHAP. IV

CHAP. V

CHAP. VI

CHAP. VII

CHAP. VIII

CHAP. IX

CHAP. X

CHAP. XI

CHAP. XII

CHAP. XIII

CHAP. XIV

CHAP. XV

CHAP. XVI

CHAP. XVII

CHAP. XVIII

CHAP. XIX

CHAP. XX

CHAP. XXI

CHAP. XXII

CHAP. XXIII

CHAP. XXIV

CHAP. XXV

CHAP. XXVI

CHAP. XXVII

CHAP. XXVIII

CHAP. XXIX

CHAP. XXX

CHAP. XXXI

CHAP. XXXII

CHAP. XXXIII

CHAP. XXXIV

CHAP. XXXV

CHAP. XXXVI

ORIGINAL PIECES

SENTENCE

THE PEACE OF NYSTADT

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The more civilized a country is, the better it is peopled. Thus China and India are more populous than any other empires, because, after a multitude of revolutions, which changed the face of sublunary affairs, these two nations made the earliest establishments in civil society: the antiquity of their government, which has subsisted upwards of four thousand years, supposes, as we have already observed, many essays and efforts in preceding ages. The Russians came very late; but the arts having been introduced amongst them in their full perfection, it has happened, that they have made more progress in fifty years, than any other nation had done before them in five hundred. The country is far from being populous, in proportion to its extent; but, such as it is, it has as great a number of inhabitants as any other state in Christendom. From the capitation lists, and the register of merchants, artificers, and male peasants, I might safely assert, that Russia, at present, contains at least twenty-four millions of male inhabitants: of these twenty-four millions, the greatest part are villains or bondmen, as in Poland, several provinces of Germany, and formerly throughout all Europe. The estate of a gentleman in Russia and Poland is computed, not by his increase in money, but by the number of his slaves.

The following is a list, taken in 1747, of all the males who paid the capitation or poll-tax: —

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No title, however pompous, is of any consequence, if those who bear it are not great and powerful themselves. The word emperor, which originally signified no more than general of the army, became the title of the sovereign of the Roman republic: it is now given to the supreme governor of all the Russias, more justly than to any other potentate, if we consider the power and extent of his dominions.

The established religion of this country has, ever since the eleventh century, been that of the Greek church, so called in opposition to the Latin; though there were always a greater number of Mahometan and Pagan provinces, than of those inhabited by Christians. Siberia, as far as China, was in a state of idolatry; and, in some of the provinces, they were utter strangers to all kind of religion.

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