Now, I do not propose to whitewash this enlightened but unscrupulous robber.  On no recognized principles of morality can he be defended, any more than can Louis XIV. for the invasion of Flanders, or Frederic II. for the seizure of Silesia.  He first resolved to seize Azof, the main port on the little sea of that name which opens out into the Black Sea, and which belonged to the Turks.  It was undoubted robbery; but its possession would be an immense advantage to Russia.  Of course, that seizure could not be justified either by the laws of God or the laws of nations.  “Thou shalt not steal” is an eternally binding law for nations and for individuals.  Peter knew that he had no right to this important city; but at the same time he knew that its possession would benefit Russia.  So we are compelled to view this monarch as a robber, taking what was not his, as Ahab seized Naboth’s vineyard; but taking it for the benefit of his country, which Ahab did not.  He knew it was a political crime, but a crime to advance the civilization of his empire.  The only great idea of his life was the welfare of his country, by any means.  For his country he would sacrifice his character and public morality.  Some might call this an exalted patriotism,—­I call it unmitigated Jesuitism; which seems to have been the creed of politicians, and even of statesmen, for the last three hundred years.  All that Peter thought of was the end; he cared nothing for the means.  I wonder why Carlyle or Froude has not bolstered up and defended this great hyperborean giant for doing evil that good may come.  Casuistry is in their line; the defence of scoundrels seems to be their vocation.

Well, then, bear in mind that Peter, feeling that he must have Azof for the good of Russia, irrespective of right or wrong, went straight forward to his end.  Of course he knew he must have a fight with Turkey to gain this prize, and he prepared for such a fight.  Turkey was not then what it is now,—­ripe fruit to be gobbled up by Russia when the rest of Europe permits it; but Turkey then was a great power.  At that very time two hundred thousand Turks were besieging Vienna, which would have fallen but for John Sobieski.  But obstacles were nothing to Peter; they were simply things to be surmounted, at any sacrifice of time or money or men.  So with the ships he had built he sailed down the River Don and attacked Azof.  He was foiled, not beaten.  He never seemed to know when he was beaten, and he never seemed to care.  That hard, iron man marched to his object like a destiny.  What he had to do was to take Azof against an army of Turks.  So, having failed in the first campaign, through the treachery of one Jacobs who had been employed in the artillery, he tried it again the next year and succeeded, his army being commanded by General Gordon, a Scotchman, while he himself served only as ensign or lieutenant.  This port was the key of Palus Maeotis, and opened to him the Black Sea, on which he resolved to establish