Wiburg and Kexholm, were ceded to Russia. But the duke of Holstein, whom he had promised to aid in the recovery of Sleswick, was made the victim of political expediency. Thus, after twenty-one years, the northern war was concluded without exhausting the resources of Peter, and the power of Russia was fixed upon an immovable basis. The czar celebrated the peace by thanksgivings and festivals, and a general pardon (murderers and irreclaimable highwaymen only excepted), and by a remission of all the claims of the crown previous to 1717. The senate and the holy synod requested him, in the name of the nation, to accept the titles of "father of his country, and emperor of all the Russias, with the surname of the Great." He was proclaimed emperor on the grand celebration of the peace, Oct. 22, 1721. This title was immediately acknowledged by Prussia, Holland and Sweden, and, at a later period, by all the other powers. To prevent his great creation from falling to pieces in weak or incompetent hands, he decreed (Feb. 5, 1722), that the sovereign of Russia should have full power to elect his successor, and to change this appointment, if he should see fit. By the new judicial organization, it was provided that no actual senator should sit in a court of justice, and no president of a court of justice in the senate. The emperor now undertook his long meditated expedition to Persia, to secure the Russian trade on the Caspian sea. In 1715, 1716 and 1719, he had sent experienced naval officers to examine this sea and its coasts, and to hold vessels necessary for an expedition in readiness. In the first year of the war, he took Derbent, and built several fortified towns, which he peopled with Cossacks of the Don. The domestic confusions in Persia compelled the shah to yield, and by the treaty of Sept. 12, 1723 (to which the Porte likewise assented July 8, 1724), to cede to Russia the cities of Derbent and Baku, with their territory, and the provinces Ghilan, Mazanderan and Astarabad. After his return, Dec. 26, 1722, he instituted new examinations for maladministration. The vice-chancellor Schaffiroff, one of his favorites, was condemned to death, but, on the scaffold, his punishment was commuted to banishment. Menzikoff was sentenced to pay 200,000 roubles into the exchequer; he was deprived of a large part of his income, and flogged by the emperor's own hand: for the infliction of this punishment, Peter used his dubina (a cane of thick Spanish reed). Several others were disgraced or flogged, or heavily fined.

July 12, 1724, Peter again conducted a fleet against Sweden, to enforce his claims on Sweden and Denmark, in behalf of the duke of Holstein: having effected this purpose, Peter returned to Cronstadt, where he celebrated by a splendid parade the creation of his navy,which now consisted of 41 ships of war, with 2106 cannonsand 14,960 sailors. This great monarch employed the last years of his life in providing against the inundations, to which Petersburg was exposed in the autumn; in continuing the Ladoga canal, and in the erection of an academy of sciences (Feb. 1, 1725). He turned his attention next to the examination and punishment of state criminals; to the promotion of the labors of the legislative body; the establishment of the order of Alexander-Newsky; the improvement of the condition of the monks; the banishment of the Capuchins from Russia; and a new commercial treaty with Sweden. He also betrothed his favorite daughter Anna to the duke of Holstein, Nov. 24, 1724, having already placed the crown upon the head of his wife, Catharine, on the 18th of the preceding May, in token of his love and gratitude. He likewise provided that an education should be given to the surviving son of the unhappy Alexis, such as would become a future emperor of Russia. But Peter had long felt his strength declining, from the pains he had suffered through the strangury, ever since 1723: hence the gloom, alternating with violent bursts of passion, to which he became subject; and to this, perhaps, is to be ascribed the execution of Mons, first chamberlain, and favorite of the empress Catharine; the reason assigned for which was neglect of duty, bribery, &c. Late in the autumn of 1724, going to visit the forge and manufactory of arms at Systerbeck, he saw a boat filled with soldiers and sailors stranded, and sent a shallop, which did not succeed in getting it off; determined to gain his end, he set out for the spot himself, and, as his vessel could not quite reach the spot, he leaped into the water and waded to the boat, which he aided in getting off. But the cold which he caught rendered his condition extremely dangerous.

He celebrated the new year, 1725, according to his usual custom, chose a new antipope, and ordered the demolition of the superfluous chapels, and the removal of the images. A surgical operation gave him no relief; his pain often deprived him of reason. his intervals of sanity, he was soothed with the consolations of religion, by Theophanes, archbishop of Pleskow. In one

In

of these intervals, he granted full pardon to Menzikoff, at the earnest desire of Catharine. He expressed a wish to speak with his favorite daughter, Anna; but when she came, the emperor was speechJess. He expired February 8, 1725, in the arms of his wife, who had not left him for three nights. Peter was 53 years of age, and, according to his physicians, might have lived 40 more, if he had not so long concealed his disorder. Peter was a man of powerful and original genius, who did every thing himself, and was never the instrument of others. His ardor was joined with prudence, resolution, and a generous humanity. His violent passions and sensual excesses were the fruits of the barbarism of his nation, his imperfect education and uncontrolled power. On the centennial celebration of his accession to the throne, an equestrian monument by Falconet, representing him at full speed springing up a rock, with his hand extended, and the inscription Petro Primo, Catharina Secunda, MDCCLXXXII, was exposed to view in Petersburg. Voltaire wrote the life of Peter.

PETER II, emperor of Russia, grandson of Peter the Great, and son of Alexis, ascended the throne in consequence of the will of Catharine I (q. v.), in 1727, when but thirteen years old. He died in 1730, of the small pox, and was succeeded by Anna Ivanowna. (q. v.)

PETER III (Fedrowitch); emperor of Russia. As the male line of the Romanoffs ceased with Peter II, the empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter I and Catharine I, agreeably to the order of succession enjoined by her father, appointed Charles Peter Ulrich, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, son of her sister Anna Petrowna and the duke of Holstein, her successor, in 1742; and, in 1745, she married him to the princess Sophia Augusta, of Anhalt-Zerbst (at a later period the famous Catharine II). Peter III ascended the throne in 1762. His first step was a reconciliation with Frederic II, to whom he restored the conquered kingdom of Prussia Proper, and sent 15,000 men to assist him. He established some salutary laws; but a conspiracy broke out, which put an end to his life, after a reign of six months. His predilection for the people of Holstein; his attempts to establish Prussian tactics, and to overthrow the privileges of the great, had made him numerous enemies. This conspiracy broke out in the night of July 8, in 1762. (See Catharine II.) He abdicated the throne July 10, but could not save his life by this means. He was, it is

said, killed at Ropscha, a seat of count Rasumoffsky, July 14 (3 old style), 1762. (See Orloff.)

PETER, ST., CHURCH OF. (See Rome.) PETER, the apostle (whose original name was Simon), was a Galilean fisherman from Bethsaida. His brother Andrew, having been received by Jesus among his disciples, introduced Simon to the divine instructer. He promptly resolved to leave all and follow Jesus, at whose command he had made a most remarkable draught of fishes. After this event, we find him always among the followers of Christ, and one of his most confidential disciples. From the firmness of his faith, Jesus named him Cephas (in Greek, Petros), a rock, and bestowed upon him peculiar marks of affection; yet he never gave him any superiority over the other apostles, as the Roman Catholics maintain, nor did Peter himself ever assume it. On the contrary, Jesus reminded him, in their presence,of his faults, and his impetuosity; and, in the last dreadful night before the crucifixion, Peter encountered the reproving look of his master, whom he had followed at a distance to the house of the high priest, and there basely denied, from fear of punishment. Repentance for this crime purified and strengthened his noble heart, which glowed with a warm love of Jesus. His zeal and eloquence made him often the speaker in behalf of his fellow apostles on important occasions; as, for instance, at the feast of pentecost, after the ascension of Christ, where Peter had the boldness to preach the gospel publicly, for the first time, and converted several thousands by his powerful eloquence; and before the Jewish council, where he defended the new faith. His opinions had great influence in the Christian churches; and, on his proposal, the apostles and elders of the first synod at Jerusalem resolved that a conformity to the laws of Moses should not be required of the Gentile converts to Christianity. Peter probably travelled through several countries of Middle and Western Asia, as a teacher of Christianity; but the tradition that he went to Rome, and was crucified there, in the year 67, rests only on the legends of the Roman church, on which, also, the pope rests his claims to be considered the successor of this apostle. The two Epistles of Peter, in the New Testament, were written in Greek, and directed to the churches in Asia Minor. In their style, and in the exposition of doctrines, they bear strong marks of his ardent mind, hurrying from thought to thought, care

less in expression, but animated and forcible.

PETER THE HERMIT; an enthusiastic monk of Amiens, who, about the close of the eleventh century, roused Europe to the first crusade. (q. v.) Peter, who had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, instigated by the difficulties he had undergone, flew, at his return, to pope Martin the Second, and, under the auspices of that pontiff, preached to an assembly of more than 4000 of the clergy, with 30,000 laymen, that met at Piacenza, the wild project of driving the Mohammedans from Jerusalem. The success of his enthusiastic harangues was proportionate to the boldness of his scheme and the ignorance of his auditors. Peter himself led the way through Hungary, at the head of an undisciplined multitude of more than 300,000 men, a comparatively small number of whom survived to reach the city. Peter distinguished himself by his personal courage at the storming of the holy city; and, having witnessed the accomplishment of his undertaking, returned to his native country, where he founded the abbey of Noirmoutier, and died its first superior.

PETERBOROUGH, Charles Mordaunt, earl of, son of lord Mordaunt, whom he succeeded in his title and estate, in 1675, was engaged in the expedition to Tangier, in 1680, in which he served with distinction against the Mohammedans. He went over to Holland in the reign of James II, and, entering into the scheme of his dethronement, returned to England with his successor, by whom he was created earl of Monmouth, and appointed first commissioner of the treasury. He succeeded to the earldom of Peterborough on the death of his uncle, in 1697, and was subsequently employed as commander of the English army in Spain, in the war of the Spanish succession. He distinguished himself greatly by his courage, activity and conduct in taking Barcelona, and obtaining many other advantages over the French, in consequence of which he was appointed generalissimo of the imperial forces, and received the thanks of the British parliament. In the reign of George I, he was made a knight of the garter, and received the appointment of general of marines. His death took place during a voyage to Lisbon, in 1735. Lord Peterborough was intimate with his literary contemporaries, and was himself a writer of poetry, some of which has been published. In the Correspondence of the Countess of Suffolk, edited by Mr. Cro

ker, are several of his letters.-Sir Walter Scott has been said to be preparing a Life of the Earl of Peterborough.

PETERBOROUGH, BISHOP OF. (See Marsh, Herbert.)

PETERERO, or PATTERERO; a small piece of ordnance used on board ships for the discharging of nails, broken iron, or partridge-shot, on an enemy attempting to board. They are generally open at the breech, and their chamber made to take out to be loaded that way, instead of at the muzzle.

PETERS, Hugh, minister of Salem, Massachusetts, was born at Fowey, in Cornwall, England, in 1599, and, in 1622, took his degree of master of arts at Trinity college, Cambridge. After obtaining a license, and preaching in London, with great success, he removed to Holland, and, several years afterwards, to America, on account of his non-conformity. In 1636, he was intrusted with the charge of the church at Salem, and remained there five years. He did not, however, confine his attention exclusively to spiritual concerns, but took an active interest in mercantile and civil affairs; he assisted in reforming the police of the town; suggested the plan of the fishery, and of the coasting and foreign voyages; procured carpenters, and engaged in trade with great success. In 1641, he went to England on a mission to procure an alteration in the laws of excise and trade, but never returned. During the civil war, he advocated the cause of parliament by his preaching, and was appointed by Cromwell one of the licensers of ministers, and also a commissioner for amending the laws, though totally disqualified for such employment. After the restoration, he was tried for conspiring with Cromwell, and compassing the king's death, and was executed October 16, 1660, aged sixty-one years. He is accused by Burnet of having pressed the condemnation of the unfortunate Charles, but he himself declared, in his will, that he opposed it. He was a man of no learning, but of impetuous zeal, and peculiar native vigor of mind. His sermons, several of which were published, produced a great effect upon the populace by their striking, though vulgar eloquence. His coarse and familiar images never failed to answer their purpose; and he possessed the faculty of associating his thoughts in such a manner as to prevent them from being easily forgotten.

PETERS, Richard, an eminent American judge and agriculturist, was born near Philadelphia, Aug. 22, 1744. He received

his education in Philadelphia, at the college of which city he was graduated. In entering into active life, he was a good Latin and Greek scholar, and acquainted with the French and German languages. He adopted the profession of the law, in which he obtained early and considerable success, particularly by means of his intimate knowledge of the land laws of the commonwealth, and the fluency with which he spoke German. Even in his youth, he was distinguished for wit and humor. His powers of pleasantry were felt even by the Indians, when he accompanied a delegation from Pennsylvania to the Six Nations. The Indian chiefs, delighted with his vivacity, formally adopted him into their tribes. At the opening of the American revolution, Mr. Peters became captain of a company of volunteers, but was soon transferred by congress to the board of war, in which he continued until the year 1781, when he resigned his post, and received from congress a vote of thanks for his services. He was closely connected with Robert Morris in all the exertions and sacrifices which were made for supplying the necessities of the American army. No one possessed more curious and instructive anecdotes of the distresses and trials of the American government. Some of these are well related in the sketch of his life by Samuel Breck, esquire. After Mr. Peters quitted the war office, he was elected a member of congress. When the new government was organized, under the present constitution, president Washington offered him the place of comptroller of the treasury of the U. States. This he declined, but accepted that of judge of the district court of Pennsylvania. He occupied this station for thirty-six years, until his death, always assiduous, and highly useful, particularly in admiralty cases. Agriculture and public works formed the chief objects of judge Peters, besides his duties on the bench. He was the first president of the company at whose expense the great bridge at Philadelphia, over the Schuylkill, was built. To him its preservation may be ascribed. The country is indebted to him, also, for the use of gypsum in agriculture. In 1797, he published a relation of his experiments with it on his own farm, which was widely circulated, and produced important improvements in American husbandry. He was president of the Philadelphia agricultural society, and enriched its memoirs with many valuable communications. In private life, he was preeminent for convivial humor, and equalled, proba

bly, any one of his contemporaries in the number and felicity of his bon mots. He was an exemplary husband, parent, neighbor, citizen and Christian.

PETER'S, ST.; one of the largest tributary rivers of the Upper Mississippi. Its course is in the Missouri Territory, and it joins the Mississippi at the falls of St. Anthony. The length of the St. Peter's is 250 miles. It affords good navigation for boats, is 150 yards wide at its mouth, and has 15 feet water.

PETERSBURG; a borough and port of entry in Dinwiddie county, Virginia, on the south bank of the Appomattox. It is just below the falls on that river, twelve miles above its junction with James river, at City Point; twenty-five miles south-byeast from Richmond, and 146 from Washington; lat. 37° 14' N.; lon. 77° 20′ W. The river is navigable to this place for vessels of 100 tons. In 1815, this town lost, by fire, about 400 buildings. It has since been rebuilt of brick, and the new houses are principally three stories high. The general appearance of the town indicates business, wealth and enterprise, and it is of the first class of towns in Virginia. The town contained in 1830, 3440 whites, 2850 slaves, and 2032 free blacks total, 8322.

PETERSBURG, ST., capital of the Russian empire, occupying more space than any city in Europe, except London and Moscow, is situated at the mouth of the Neva, at the eastern extremity of the gulf of Finland; lat. 59° 56′ N.; lon. 29° 48′ E.; 485 miles north-west of Moscow, and about 1400 miles north-east of Paris and London. Petersburg is the seat of the court, of the senate, the holy synod, of a university, &c., &c., and, for beauty and splendor, surpasses every other city of Europe. The population, which, in 1818, was 313,000, amounted, in 1828, including the garrison, to 422,166, of which only 124,721 were females. The stranger wanders with admiration through the broad, regular streets, surrounded with the most magnificent palaces, churches with gilded towers, and other massive and colossal edifices; his eye every where rests on masterpieces of architecture. On entering the imperial gardens on the Neva, the majestic stream presents a fine prospect, with its ships, boats and bridges. On both banks are rich palaces, churches, and towers glittering with gold, charming islands, and beautiful gardens. Each side of the river is lined with a broad quay for the distance of nearly three miles. The excellent water of the Neva supplies the

want of springs. The czar Peter the Great laid the foundations of the city during the northern war (1703), when he constructed a fort on an island in the Neva, for its defence against the Swedes. To superintend the work in person, Peter built a small wooden hut opposite it, which is still standing, and is now surrounded with a stone building to preserve it. Public and private buildings were soon erected, and the nobles and rich merchants of Moscow, Novgorod, &c., were induced to settle there, so that, in a short time, the place assumed the appearance of a considerable city, which, during the succeeding reigns, particularly in those of Catharine II and Alexander, reached an almost unexampled degree of magnificence. The environs are level and low, in many places consisting of morasses: they therefore suffer from inundations, which sometimes occasion great ravages: in 1824, 15,000 persous perished by an inundation, which destroyed many villages, and caused great damage to the shipping. Petersburg is an open city, without walls, and only in some places surrounded with a ditch. Among the inhabitants there are a great number of foreigners, particularly Germans, who have intermixed much with the Russians, and fill many civil and military posts. The Neva divides the city into two parts, of which the southern or continental part is the largest and most populous: the northern part is again divided by a branch of the Neva. The city is divided into nine quarters-the three admiralty quarters, the foundery, the Moscow, the Jamskoy, the Vasili-Ostrov, the Petersburg, and the Wiburg quarters. Each quarter is subdivided into districts, and these into inferior sections, at the head of each of which is a police-officer, usually a retired major. The whole organization of the police is military; and the military judges are too often entirely ignorant of the laws. When they find themselves embarrassed by the contradictory provisions of different ukases, they cut the knot, and, if the parties show any dissatisfaction with the decision, it is sealed by a blow or a kick. These inferior officers of police are subordinate to the police court in the centre of the city, the presiding officer of which is a general. In the admiralty quarter, which is the finest part of the city, is the imperial winter palace, on the banks of the Neva, the interior of which is adorned with statues and mythological figures. Catharine added to it a smaller palace, called the Hermitage. This building contains a rich col

lection of works of art, among which are a large number of original paintings of the great masters; and attached to it is a garden, in which, as in the garden of Calypso, reigns a perpetual spring. Some hundred paces distant, in the splendid street called the Great Million, is the Marble Palace, of colossal dimensions, which is built on a granite basement, and was given by Catharine to her favorite count Örloff. On the other side of the admiralty, which, towards the land side, is enclosed by a ditch and wall, is a walk planted with beautiful lime trees, and some of the finest buildings of the city, particularly Isaac's church, built entirely of marble (1766-1812), at an expense of 26,500,000 roubles, and which has, since its completion, been continually receiving additional embellishments. Not far off is seen the palace of the prince Labanoff, a gigantic work, even for Petersburg, and built at an enormous expense. Farther down, near the Neva, is the equestrian statue of Peter the Great, cast by Falconet. It stands in a spacious square, on an immense block of granite, about the size of a small house, and weighing above 800 tons. In Romanzoff place is a marble obelisk, erected by Catharine, in honor of Romanzoff's victories, and, in Suwarroff place, a bronze statue of Suwarroff. Among the numerous remarkable edifices and institutions, we shall mention the academy of sciences, to which belongs a very valuable library, a cabinet of natural science, and an observatory; the new exchange, finished in 1816, a splendid building, surrounded by a colonnade of 44 pillars; the house of the first corps of cadets, occupied by nearly 4000 men, and embracing a circuit of above a mile; the spacious building of the academy of fine arts, which, besides accommodations for 300-400 pupils, who are maintained and educated at the expense of the crown, contains every thing suitable for such an establishment; the second, or naval, mining, artillery and engineer cadet corps; the university (instituted in 1819), with its collections, and above 50 public institutions for education, supported at the expense of the state. These institutions lie in the Vasili-Ostrov (Basil's island), to which there is access from the continent by a bridge of boats. There are also similar institutions in other quarters of the city, particularly the great imperial gymnasium, and numerous benevolent establishments, such as military and other hospitals, the insane hospital, the institutions for the blind, and for the deaf and dumb, various medical and surgical establish