B?i?K 44 an(^ great-duke Ivan refign the throne to the tzarovitch
— ;____and great-duke Peter. Atid the tzar and great-duke Peter
¥ afcended the throne,” 8cc.
According to the other record, which is in the Kofrad’s
Buch [or a Journal of Occurrences at Court,] “ the patriarch
“ demands of the perfons affembled for the nomination of
“ the new fovereign, whom they would chufe tzar, Ivan or
!** Peter.
“ And the Stolnics and Straeptfhi, and the nobles, and-the
“ Diaki, and the Shilitfi,and the Dietiboiarlki, and the Gofti,
and the merchants, and the other people of different ranks,
“ anfwered unanimoufly, that the throne of all the king-
doms of the great Ruffian empire belonged to Peter Alex-
li ievitch: and then the patriarch addrefled the Boiars,
“ Okolnitchi, privy counfellors, and principal perfons be-
il longing to the court; and the Boiars, &c. anfwered una-
“ nimoufly, The tzarovitch and great-duke Peter is, by
“ the choice of all the ftates and people of the Mofcovite
“ empire, tzar and great-duke of all Great, Little, and
White. Ruffia,” &c. 8tc.
We may remark upon thefe extracts, that being evidently
compiled by the friends of Peter, even if they did not contradict
each other, their authority would be exceedingly exceptionable
; nor could their lilence, with refpeCt to any
oppofition, be confidered as a fufficient teftimony that the
fuffrages in favour of Peter were unanimous, becaufe his
adherents would never record any particulars tending in the
fmalleft degree to invalidate his pretenfions, or to fupport
thofe of Ivan. Befides, when we recollect the power of the
family of Mololafiki during the reign of Feodor, the influence
which prince Vaffili Galjtzin muft have acquired from
h is
s O P H I a A L E X I E F N A. 4or
his office of prime minifter, and particularly the infinuating c h a p .
manners and popularity of Sophia, all of whom were bound, ■ VI.1L ■
not only by the ftrongeft ties of infereft, but even for their
common fecurity, to fupport the caufe of Ivan, we cannot,
with any degree of probability, fuppofe that the nomination
of Peter was as unanimous as it is reprefented. And indeed
it is certain that a nobleman, named Sumbalof, abfolutely
objected to the invalidity of the eleftion, becaufe the younger
brother wag preferred to the e ld e r th a t his remonftance
was followed by thofe o f many others, and that even the
patriarch Joachim, who is efteemed by Mr. Muller a ftrong
advocate of Peter, foon afterwards embraced the party of
Ivan : thefe circumftances feem to imply that Peter was not
raifed to the throne by the unanimous voice of the nation,
and that the fuffrages of the affembly had been furprized
by the fecret machinations of the Nariikins.
Peter, however, by whatfoever means his nomination was
obtained, received, as foie fovereign, the fealty of his fub-
jedts, and the government was entrufted to his mother Natalia.
But this ftate of affairs was of no long duration : the
party in oppofition to Peter was ftrong and powerful; his
election was not as yet confirmed by the whole body of Stre-
litz, who, to ufe the fpirited expreifion of a Ruffian author,
poffeffed above 14,000 armed votes t ; and their peculiar
fituation at this important juncture rendered them fit in-
ftruments of a new revolution.
Juft before Feodor’s demife, and even while that monarch
was at the point of death, nine of thefe regiments, quartered
at Mofcow, having tumultuoufly affembled, demanded
redrefs of the ill-treatment they pretended to have received
from their colonels, and an inftant difcharge of all their ar-
* Snmorokof, p . 5 5— 57, f 14198 bcwaffuete ftimme. Pumorokof, p. iq
VOL •T*,'. F .1f 1f rears.