The year, in Russia, had for ages commenced with the 1st of September.  Peter ordered that, in conformity with the custom in the rest of Europe, the year should commence with the 1st of January.  This alteration took place in the year 1700, and was celebrated with the most imposing solemnities.  The national dress of the Russians was a long flowing robe, which required no skill in cutting or making.  Razors were also scarce, and every man wore his beard.  The tzar ordered long robes and beards to be laid aside.  No man was admitted to the palace without a neatly shaven face.  Throughout the empire a penalty was imposed upon any one who persisted in wearing his beard.  A smooth face thus became in Russia, and has continued, to the present day, the badge of culture and refinement.  Peter also introduced social parties, to which ladies with their daughters were invited, dressed in the fashions of southern Europe.

Heretofore, whenever a Russian addressed the tzar, he always said, “Your slave begs,” etc.  Peter abolished this word, and ordered subject to be used instead.  Public inns were established on the highways, and relays of horses for the convenience of travelers.  Conscious of the power of splendor to awe the public mind, he added very considerably to the magnificence of his court, and instituted an order of knighthood.  In all these measures Peter wielded the energies of an unrelenting despotism, and yet of a despotism which was constantly devoted, not to his own personal aggrandizement, but to the welfare of his country.

The tzar established his great ship-yard at Voronise, on the Don, from which place he could float his ships down to the Sea of Azof, hoping to establish there a fleet which would soon give him the command of the Black Sea.  In March, 1699, he had thirty-six ships launched and rigged, carrying each from thirty to sixty guns; and there were then twenty more ships on the stocks.  There were, also, either finished or in process of construction, eighteen large galleys, one hundred smaller brigantines, seven bomb ships and four fire ships.  At the same time Peter was directing his attention to the Volga and the Caspian, and still more vigorously to the Baltic, upon whose shores he had succeeded in obtaining a foothold.

And now the kingdom of Sweden came, with a rush, into the political arena.  Poland had ceded to Sweden nearly the whole of Livonia.  The Livonians were very much dissatisfied with the administration of the government under Charles XI., and sent a deputation to Stockholm to present respectful remonstrances.  The indignant king consigned all of the deputation, consisting of eight gentlemen, to prison, and condemned the leader, John Patgul, to an ignominious death.  Patgul escaped from prison, and hastening to Poland, urged the new sovereign, Augustus, to reconquer the province of Livonia, which Poland had lost, assuring him the Livonians would aid with all their energies