of Western Europe, the empire which he governed had till then
been what Bokhara or Siam is to us. That empire indeed, though
less extensive than at present, was the most extensive that had
ever obeyed a single chief. The dominions of Alexander and of
Trajan were small when compared with the immense area of the
Scythian desert. But in the estimation of statesmen that
boundless expanse of larch forest and morass, where the snow lay
deep during eight months of every year, and where a wretched
peasantry could with difficulty defend their hovels against
troops of famished wolves, was of less account than the two or
three square miles into which were crowded the counting houses,
the warehouses, and the innumerable masts of Amsterdam. On the
Baltic Russia had not then a single port. Her maritime trade with
the other rations of Christendom was entirely carried on at
Archangel, a place which had been created and was supported by
adventurers from our island. In the days of the Tudors, a ship
from England, seeking a north east passage to the land of silk
and spice, had discovered the White Sea. The barbarians who dwelt
on the shores of that dreary gulf had never before seen such a
portent as a vessel of a hundred and sixty tons burden. They fled
in terror; and, when they were pursued and overtaken, prostrated
themselves before the chief of the strangers and kissed his feet.
He succeeded in opening a friendly communication with them; and
from that time there had been a regular commercial intercourse
between our country and the subjects of the Czar. A Russia
Company was incorporated in London. An English factory was built
at Archangel. That factory was indeed, even in the latter part of
the seventeenth century, a rude and mean building. The walls
consisted of trees laid one upon another; and the roof was of
birch bark. This shelter, however, was sufficient in the long