the degrees of the service from the very lowest rank. He
shouldered his musket, and commencing at the humblest post, served as
sentinel, sergeant and lieutenant. No one ventured to refuse to follow
in the footsteps of his sovereign. This company, thus formed and
disciplined, was rapidly increased until it became the royal guard,
most terrible on the field of battle. When this regiment numbered five
thousand men, another regiment upon the same principle was organized,
which contained twelve thousand. It is a remarkable fact stated by
Voltaire, that one third of these troops were French refugees, driven
from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

One of the first efforts of the far-sighted monarch was to consolidate
the army and to bring it under the energy of one mind, by breaking
down the independence of the nobles, who had heretofore acted as petty
sovereigns, leading their contingents of vassals. Peter was thus
preparing to make the influence of Russia felt among the armies of
Europe as it had never been felt before.

The Russian empire, sweeping across Siberian Asia, reached down
indefinitely to about the latitude of fifty-two degrees, where it was
met by the Chinese claims. Very naturally, a dispute arose respecting
the boundaries, and with a degree of good sense which seems almost
incredible in view of the developments of history, the two
half-civilized nations decided to settle the question by conference
rather than by war. A place of meeting, for the embassadors, was
appointed on the frontiers of Siberia, about nine hundred miles from
the great Chinese wall. Fortunately for both parties, there were some
Christian missionaries who accompanied the Chinese as interpreters.
Probably through the influence of these men of peace a treaty was soon
formed. Both parties pledged themselves to the observance of the
treaty in the following words, which were doubtless written by the
missionaries:

"If any of us entertain the least thought of renewing the flames of
war, we beseech the supreme Lord of all things, who knows the heart of
man, to punish the traitor with sudden death."

Two large pillars were erected upon the spot to mark the boundaries
between the two empires, and the treaty was engraved upon each of
them. Soon after, a treaty of commerce was formed, which commerce,
with brief interruptions, has continued to flourish until the present
day. Peter now prepared, with his small but highly disciplined ar