Peter the Great (140 page)

The most dedicated of the fisclas was Alexis Nesterov, who eventually became the Ober-Fiscal. This zealot labored with a fury, poking into every aspect of government, denouncing his victims with fanatical malice and at one point even bringing his own son to judgment. Nesterov's most prominent prey was Prince Matthew Gagarin, who since 1708 had been the Governor of Siberia. Because of the great distance of his province from the capital, Gagarin ruled almost as a monarch beyond the Urals. Among his responsibilities was supervision of the China trade which passed through Nerchinsk and which was now a government monopoly. Nesterov, through his network of spies, discovered that Gagarin was cheating the government of revenue by allowing private merchants to trade illegally and by trading illegally himself. By this means, he had amassed an enormous fortune; his table was set every day for dozens of guests, and near his bed hung an icon of the Virgin decorated with diamonds worth 130,000 roubles. The record was not all black; on the contrary, Gagarin had made a substantial contribution to the development of Siberia by promoting industry and trade and opening up the mineral resources of the vast region. In addition, Gargarin was highly popular throughout the province for the mildness of his rule. When he was arrested, 7,000 Swedish prisoners working in Siberia petitioned the Tsar to pardon him.

Nesterov's first report on Gagarin's dishonesty was submitted to Peter in 1714, but the Tsar refused to pursue the matter. In 1717, Nesterov presented a more incriminating dossier, and Peter appointed a commission of Guards officers to investigate. Gagarin was arrested and confessed to irregularities and even illegalities, begging pardon and permission to end his days doing penance in a monastery. Everybody believed that Peter would pardon the Governor in recognition of his influence and services. But the Tsar, furious that his repeated decrees about honesty had been flouted, determined to make an example. Gagarin was condemned and publicly hanged in St. Petersburg in September 1718.

Nesterov wielded his power for almost ten years. Then the Ober-Fiscal himself was caught receiving presents which, although almost inconsequential in size, attracted the eye of his many ill-wishers. Quickly, the accumulated weight of enmity crushed him. He was tried, convicted and condemned to be broken alive on the wheel. The sentence was carried out in the square opposite Trezzini's new building for the colleges on Vasilevsky Island. By then, Nesterov was an old man with white hair. As he lay on the wheel, still alive, Peter, who happened to be visiting the colleges, went to the window and looked out. Seeing Nesterov and pitying him, the Tsar ordered the Ober-Fiscal's head to be cut off immediately so that he would not suffer longer.

The worst offender, whom even Nesterov had never dared to accuse, was Menshikov. Again and again, the Prince presumed on the indulgence of his long-suffering master. He knew that Peter needed him; for any man who occupies the lonely pinnacle of power, such a friend is essential. He was Peter's confidant, the interpreter of his thoughts and executor of his decisions, his closest companion for drinking, the governor of Peter's son, his cavalry commander, his right arm. In public, he was careful to treat the Tsar with exaggerated re
spect; in private, he knew exactl
y how near the line he could go. If he passed it unwittingly, he received a blow from Peter's fist or cudgel. He accepted these with good humor and never sulked, which further endeared him. Yet, behind Peter's back, Menshikov showed a different face.
To
inferiors, he was domineering; to rivals, insolent. He had boundless ambition, his manners were coarse, he was an implacable enemy and he was bitterly hated as well as widely feared.

As Peter's reign progressed, the power of his royal favorite steadily grew, and after Poltava it knew few bounds. Menshikov was Governor General of St. Petersburg, First Senator, knight of the Order of St. Andrew, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and bore tides from the Kings of Poland, Denmark and Prussia. It was commonly said that he could travel across the empire from Riga on the Baltic to Derbent on the Caspian and always sleep on one of his own estates. His palace on the Neva housed a glittering court of gentlemen, chamberlains, pages and Parisian cooks who prepared dinners of
200
dishes served on golden plates. Making his way through the streets in a fan-shaped carriage with his coat of arms emblazoned in gold o
n the door and a golden crown o
n the roof, drawn by six horses caparisoned in red and gold, he was always accompanied by liveried servants, musicians and an escort of dragoons to clear a way through the crowds. Yet, although Peter in affection and gratitude had endowed Menshikov with enormous wealth, it was never enough. Like many other man raised from nothing to vast power, he cared greatly for the trappings which would display that power. When not enough came in as bribes and gifts, he stole rapaciously. Despite the huge fines fixed on him by Peter, he was always rich and, after a brief period of disgrace, always returned to renewed favor. To the foreign ambassadors, expecting that each successive scandal would be Menshikov's last, then seeing him rise again, radiant and awesome, the Prince seemed a phoenix.

Often, Peter simply overlooked Menshikov's behavior. At one point, the Senate found evidence of irregularity in Menshikov's purchases of ammunition. They asked the Prince for an explanation, but Menshikov arrogantly brushed them aside, refusing to answer in writing or sign his name to anything, sending instead a junior officer with an oral reply. The senators then drew up a list of the principal charges and evidence against Menshikov and placed the paper on a table in front of the Tsar's chair. When Peter came in, he picked up the paper, ran his eye quickly over it and put it back on the table without a word. Finally, Tolstoy dared to ask what his reaction was. "Nothing," replied Peter. "Menshikov will always be Menshikov."

Nevertheless, Peter's indulgence had limits. Once, when he had deprived Menshikov temporarily of his immense estates in the Ukraine and compelled him to pay a fine of 200,000 roubles, Menshikov retaliated by taking down all the brocade and satin hangings and removing all the elegant furniture from his palace on the Neva. A few days later, when Peter came to visit, he was surprised to find the house almost empty. "What does this mean?" he asked. "Alas, Your Majesty, I was obliged to sell everything in order to settle with the Treasury," said Menshikov. Peter stared at him for a minute. "I know better," he roared. "None of these games with me. If when I come back in twenty-four hours your house is not furnished as becomes a Serene Prince and Governor of St. Petersburg, the fine will be doubled!" On Peter's return, the palace was furnished more magnificently than before.

Peter's first warning to Menshikov came in 1711 after the Prince was accused of extortion during his command of the army in Poland. (Menshikov excused himself by arguing that he had taken only from the Poles.) "Mend your ways or you will answer to me with your head," Peter threatened, and for a while Menshikov obeyed. In 1715, he was charged again, and again he escaped by paying a fine. Nevertheless, after the 1715 trial Peter exhibited a new coolness toward his old friend. He continued to go to Menshikov's house and wrote him amiable, even affectionate letters, but never fully trusted him again. Menshikov circumspectly adjusted to this new relationship. In his own letters, he dropped the familiar forms of address he had always used to Peter and switched to a more formal, respectful style as became a subject addressing an autocrat. He was abjectly apologetic, invoking Peter's old friendship and his own past services whenever the Tsar's mood darkened. The Prince had a powerful protector in Catherine, who was always ready to intercede on his behalf. On one of these occasions, Peter acceded to his wife's pleas, but warned her for the future: "Menshikov was conceived in iniquity, brought into the world in sin and will end his life in deceit. Unless he reforms, he will surely lose his head."

Menshikov was not out of trouble for long. At the beginning of January 1719, new charges were brought against him. He was summoned before a military court-martial, along with General-Admiral Apraxin and Senator Jacob Dolgoruky, and charged with maladministration of Ingria and embezzlement of 21,000 roubles meant for the purchase of cavalry horses. Menshikov admitted taking the money, but explained in his defense that the government still owed him 29,000 roubles which he had never been able to collect; therefore, when this money came into his hands, he had pocketed it in partial repayment. The court accepted the extenuating circumstances, but still condemned him for violating military laws. Both he and Apraxin were sentenced to the loss of all their estates and honors, and ordered to give up their swords and confine themselves in their homes until confirmation of the sentences by the Tsar. Both men went home to await the blow. Peter first confirmed the sentences and then, a day later, to everyone's surprise, canceled them in recognition of former services. Both men were restored to full rank. They paid severe fines, but nothing more. Peter simply could not afford to lose them.

For the time, it seemed, Menshikov was subdued. Soon after, the Prussian minister wrote, "The good Prince Menshikov has be
en well plucked. The Tsar asked
him how many peasants he possessed in Ingria. He confessed to seven thousand, but His Majesty, who was much better informed, told him he was welcome to keep his seven thousand but he must give up all above that figure—in other words, eight thousand more. Menshikov, from anxiety and wondering what will happen to him next, has grown quite ill and as lean as a dog, but he has saved his neck once more and been pardoned till Satan tempts him again."

Nevertheless, true to Peter's prediction that "Menshikov will always be Menshikov," the Prince continued to swindle his master. In 1723, he was caught again and brought before an investigatory commission. He had been granted Mazeppa's estates near Baturin, and in 1724, he was accused of having concealed there over 30,000 serfs who had either fled the obligation of military service or run away from their landowners. Menshikov relied again on the advocacy of the good-natured Tsaritsa and presented a petition to Catherine at her coronation in which he laid the blame on Mazeppa, saying that the concealment of serfs had been done before he inherited the estates. Again, he was forgiven in greater part, but investigations were still continuing when Peter died, after which they were quashed by Catherine.

Peter, a man of simple tastes, was distressed and disgusted by the shameless rapacity of his. lieutenants clutching at every opportunity to rob the state. On all sides, he saw bribery, embezzlement and extortion, and the Treasury's money "flowing from everybody's sleeves." Once, after hearing a Senate report listing further corruption, he summoned Yaguzhinsky in a rage and ordered the immediate execution of any official who robbed the state of even enough to pay for a piece of rope. Yaguzhinsky, writing down Peter's command, lifted his pen and asked, "Has Your Majesty reflected on the consequences of this decree?" "Go ahead and write," said Peter furiously. "Does Your Majesty wish to live alone in the empire without any subjects?" persevered Yaguzhinsky. "For we all steal. Some take a little, some take a great deal, but all of us take something." Peter laughed, shook his head sadly and went no further.

Yet he persevered to the end. Now and then, as with Gagarin, he made an example of a prominent delinquent, hoping to deter the smaller ones. Once when Nesterov asked, "Are only the branches to be cut off or are the roots to be cut out?" Peter replied, "Destroy everything, roots and branches alike." It was a hopeless task; Peter could not compel honesty. In this sense, the Tsar's admiring contemporary Ivan Pososhkov was right when he wrote, "The great monarch works hard and accomplishes nothing. The Tsar pulls uphill alone with the strength of ten, but millions pull downhill."

59

COMMERCE BY DECREE

In
Russia, before Peter's time, there was little that could be called industry. Scattered through the towns were small factories and workshops for household implements, handicrafts and tools which met the needs of tsar, boyars and merchants. In the villages, the peasants made everything for themselves.

Upon his return from the West in 1698, Peter determined to change this and for the remainder of his life he labored to make Russia richer and its economy more efficient and productive. At first, with his country plunged into a major war, Peter's attempt to build industry related entirely to the needs of war. He developed cannon foundries, powder mills, factories to make muskets, leatherworks for saddles and harness, textile mills to weave woolen cloth for uniforms and make sails for the fleet. By 1705, the state-owned textile factories in Moscow and Voronezh were doing so well that Peter wrote to Menshikov: "They are making cloth and God gives excellent results, so that I have made a caftan for myself for the holidays."

After Poltava, the emphasis changed. As the demands of war diminished, Peter became more interested in other kinds of manufacturing, those designed to raise Russian life to the level of the West and at the same time to make Russia less dependent on imports from abroad. Aware that large sums were being drained out of the country to pay for imports of silk, velvet ribbon, china, and crystal, he established factories to make these products in Russia.
To
protect the fledgling industries, he placed high import duties on foreign silk and cloth which doubled their price for Russian buyers. Basically, his policy was similar to that of other European states at the time, which can generally be described as mercantilism: to increase exports in order to earn foreign currency, and decrease imports in order to stem the flow of Russian wealth abroad.

Peter's industrialization policy had a second purpose, equally important. His tax collectors were already wringing the Russian people lifeless to finance the war. The only long-term way to extract more revenue from his people, Peter realized, was to