Produced by Lance Purple and Andrew Sly.
It cannot be unknown to any that have travell'd into theDominions of the Czar of Muscovy, that this famous risingMonarch, having studied all Methods for the Encrease of his Power,and the Enriching as well as Polishing his Subjects, has travell'dthrough most part of Europe, and visited the Courts of thegreatest Princes; from whence, by his own Observation, as well asby carrying with him Artists in most useful Knowledge, he hastransmitted most of our General Practice, especially in War andTrade, to his own Unpolite People; and the Effects of thisCuriosity of his are exceeding visible in his present Proceedings;for by the Improvements he obtained in his European Travels,he has Modell'd his Armies, form'd new Fleets, settled ForeignNegoce in several remote Parts of the World; and we now see hisForces besieging strong Towns, with regular Approaches; and hisEngineers raising Batteries, throwing Bombs, &c. likeother Nations; whereas before, they had nothing of Order amongthem, but carried all by Ouslaught and Scalado,wherein they either prevailed by the Force of IrresistibleMultitude, or were Slaughter'd by heaps, and left the Ditches oftheir Enemies fill'd with their Dead Bodies.
We see their Armies now form'd into regular Battalions; andtheir Strelitz Musqueteers, a People equivalent to theTurks Janizaries, cloath'd like our Guards, firing inPlatoons, and behaving themselves with extraordinary Bravery andOrder.
We see their Ships now compleatly fitted, built and furnish'd,by the English and Dutch Artists, and their Men ofWar Cruize in the Baltick. Their New City ofPetersburgh built by the present Czar, begins now to looklike our Portsmouth, fitted with Wet and Dry Docks,Storehouses, and Magazines of Naval Preparations, vast andIncredible; which may serve to remind us, how we once taught theFrench to build Ships, till they are grown able to teach ushow to use them.
As to Trade, our large Fleets to Arch-Angel may speak forit, where we now send 100 Sail yearly, instead of 8 or 9, whichwere the greatest number we ever sent before; and the Importationof Tobaccoes from England into his Dominions, would stillincrease the Trade thither, was not the Covetousness of our ownMerchants the Obstruction of their Advantages. But all this by theby.
As this great Monarch has Improved his Country, by introducingthe Manners and Customs of the Politer Nations of Europe;so, with Indefatigable Industry, he has settled a new, but constantTrade, between his Country and China, by Land; where hisCarravans go twice or thrice a Year, as Numerous almost, and asstrong, as those from Egypt to Persia: Nor is the Wayshorter, or the Desarts they pass over less wild and uninhabitable,only that they are not so subject to Flouds of Sand, if thatTerm be proper, or to Troops of Arabs, to destroy themby the way; for this powerful Prince, to make this terrible Journeyfeazible to his Subjects, has built Forts, planted Collonies andGarisons at proper Distances; where, though they are seated inCountries intirely Barren, and among uninhabited Rocks and Sands;yet, by his continual furnishing them from his own Stores, theMerchants travelling are reliev'd on good Terms, and meet both withConvoy and Refreshment.
More might be said of the adm