to restore repose to the empire, distracted by civil war.  His energetic son, Maximilian, was already meditating that political change which should give new strength to the monarch, and which finally raised the house of Austria to the highest point of earthly grandeur.  Hungary, Bohemia and Poland, governed by near relatives, might almost be considered as a single power, and they were, as by instinct, allied with Austria in endeavors to resist the encroachments of the Turks.

Inventions and discoveries of the greatest importance were made in the world during the reign of Ivan III.  Gutenberg and Faust in Strasbourg invented the art of printing.  Christopher Columbus discovered the New World.  Until then the productions of India reached central Europe through Persia, the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azof.  On the 20th of November, 1497, Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, thus opening a new route to the Indies, and adding immeasurably to the enterprise and wealth of the world.  A new epoch seemed to dawn upon mankind, favorable at least to the tranquillity of nations, the progress of civilization and the strength of governments.  Thus far Russia, in her remote seclusion, had taken no part in the politics of Europe.  It was not until the reign of Ivan III. that this great northern empire emerged from that state of chaos in which she had neither possessed definiteness of form nor assured existence.

Ivan III. found his nation in subjection to the Tartars.  He threw off the yoke; became one of the most illustrious monarchs in Europe, commanding respect throughout Christendom; he took his position by the side of emperors and sultans, and by the native energies of his mind, unenlightened by study, he gave the wisest precepts for the internal and the external government of his realms.  But he was a rude, stern man, the legitimate growth of those savage times.  It is recorded that a single angry look from him would make any woman faint; that at the table the nobles trembled before him, not daring to utter a word.

Vassili now ascended the throne, and with great energy carried out the principles established by his father.  The first important measure of the new monarch was to fit out an expedition against the still powerful but vagabond horde at Kezan, on the Volga, to punish them for some acts of insubordination.  A powerful armament descended the Volga in barges.  The infantry landed near Kezan on the 22d of May, 1506.  The Tartars, with a numerous array of cavalry, were ready to receive their assailants, and fell upon them with such impetuosity and courage that the Russians were overpowered, and driven back, with much slaughter, to their boats.  They consequently retreated to await the arrival of the cavalry.  The Tartars, imagining that the foe, utterly discomfited, had fled back to Moscow, surrendered themselves to excessive joy.  A month passed away, and on the 22d of June an immense assemblage of uncounted thousands of Tartars were gathered in festivity on the plains of Arsk, which spread around their capital city.  More than a thousand tents were spread upon the field.  Merchants from all parts were gathered there displaying their goods, and a scene of festivity and splendor was exhibited, such as modern civilization has never paralleled.