the secret of power.  Certain ends they kept steadily in view.  The old law of succession to eldest collateral heir they set aside from the outset; the principality being invariably divided among the sons of the deceased Prince.  Then they gradually established the habit of giving to the eldest son Moscow, and only insignificant portions to the rest.  So primogeniture lay at the root of the policy of the new state—­and they had created a dynasty.

Then their invariable method was by cunning arts to embroil neighboring Princes in quarrels, and so to ingratiate themselves with their master the Khan, that when they appeared before him at Sarai—­as they must—­for his decision, while one unfortunate Prince (unless perchance he was beheaded and did not come away at all) came away without his throne, the faithful Prince of Moscow returned with a new state added to his territory and a new title to his name!  Was he not always ready, not only to obey himself, but to enforce the obedience of others?  Did he not stand ready to march against Novgorod, or any proud, refractory state which failed in tribute or homage to his master the Khan?  No gloomier, no darker chapter is written in history than that which records the transition of Russia into Muscovy.  It was rooted in a tragedy, it was nourished by human blood at every step of its growth.  It was by base servility to the Khans, by perfidy to their peers, by treachery and by prudent but pitiless policy, that Moscow rose from obscurity to the supreme headship—­and the name of Muscovy was attained.

There was a line of eight Muscovite Princes from Daniel (1260) to the death of Vasili (1462), but they moved as steadily toward one end as if one man had been during those two centuries guiding the policy of the state.  The city of Moscow was made great.  The Kremlin was built (1300)—­not as we see it now.  It required many centuries to accumulate all the treasures within that sacred inclosure of walls, crowned by eighteen towers.  But with each succeeding reign there arose new buildings, more and more richly adorned by jewels and by Byzantine art.

Then the city became the ecclesiastical center of Russia, when the Metropolitan, second only to the Great Patriarch at Constantinople, was induced to remove to Moscow from Vladimir, capital of the Grand Principality.  This was an important advance; for in the train of the great ecclesiastic came splendor of ritual, and wealth and culture and art; and a cathedral and more palaces must be added to the Kremlin.  In 1328 Ivan I., the Prince of Moscow, being the eldest descendant of Rurik, fell heir by the old law of succession to the Grand Principality.  So now the Prince of Moscow was also Grand Prince of Vladimir, or of Suzdal, which was the same thing; and as he continued to dwell in his own capital, the Grand Principality was ruled from Moscow.  The first act of this Grand Prince was to claim sovereignty over Novgorod.  The people were deprived of their Vetche and their posadnik, while one of his own boyars represented his authority and ruled as their Prince.  Then the compliant Khan bestowed upon his faithful vassal the triple crown of Vladimir, Moscow, and Novgorod, to which were soon to be added many others.