s so signally proved their
superiority in these conflicts, that when, on one occasion, eight
thousand Russians repulsed four thousand Swedes, the tzar said,

"Well, we have at last beaten the Swedes, when we were two to one
against them. We shall by and by be able to face them man to man."

In these conflicts, it was the constant aim of Peter to get a foothold
upon the shores of the Baltic, that he might open to his empire the
advantages of commerce. He launched a large fleet upon Lake Ladoga, a
large inland sea, which, by the river Neva, connects with the Gulf of
Finland. The fleets of Sweden penetrated these remote waters, and for
months their solitudes resounded with the roar of naval conflicts. We
can not refrain from recording the heroic conduct of Colonel
Schlippenbuch, the Swedish commander of the town of Notteburg, on this
lake. The town was invested by a large Russian army. For a month the
Russians battered the town night and day, until it presented the
aspect of a pile of ruins, and the garrison was reduced to one hundred
men. Yet, so indomitable was this little band, that, standing in the
breaches, they extorted honorable terms of capitulation from their
conqueror. They would not surrender but on condition of being allowed
to send for two Swedish officers, who should examine their remaining
means of defense, and inform their master, Charles XII., that it was
impossible for them any longer to preserve the town.

Peter was a man of too strong sense to be elated and vainglorious in
view of such success. He knew full well that Charles XII., since the
battle of Narva, looked with utter contempt upon the Russian soldiers,
and he was himself fully conscious of the vast superiority of the
Swedish troops. But while Charles XII., with a monarch's energies, was
battering down the fortresses and cutting to pieces the armies of
Poland, Peter had gained several victories over small detachments of
Swedish troops left in Russia. To inspire his soldiers with more
confidence, he ordered a very magnificent celebration of these
victories in Moscow. It was one of the most gorgeous fete days the
metropolis had ever witnessed. The Swedish banners, taken in several
conflicts on sea and land, were borne in front of the procession,
while all the prisoners, taken in the campaign, were marched in
humiliation in the train of the victors.

While thus employed, the stern, indefatigable tzar was pressing
forward the building of his flee