uld be opened, ships could be built
on either river for use in either sea.

The persons who had been engaged for these various purposes were
promised, of course, very large rewards to induce them to leave their
country. Many of them afterward had occasion bitterly to regret their
having entered the service of such a master. They complained that,
after their arrival in Russia, Peter treated them in a very unjust and
arbitrary manner. They were held as prisoners more than as salaried
workmen, being very closely watched and guarded to prevent their making
their escape and going back to their own country before finishing what
Peter wished them to do. Then, a large portion of their pay was kept
back, on the plea that it was necessary for the emperor to have
security in his own hands for their fidelity in the performance of
their work, and for their remaining at their posts until their work was
done. There was one gentleman in particular, a Scotch mathematician
and engineer, who had been educated at the University of Aberdeen, that
complained of the treatment which he received in a full and formal
protest, which he addressed to Peter in writing, and which is still on
record. He makes out a very strong case in respect to the injustice
with which he was treated.

But, however disappointed these gentlemen may have been in the end,
they left England in the emperor's beautiful yacht, much elated with
the honor they had received in being selected by such a potentate for
the execution of important trusts in a distant land, and with high
anticipations of the fame and fortune which they expected to acquire
before the time should arrive for them to return to their own country.
From England the yacht sailed to Holland, where Peter disembarked, in
order to join the embassy and accompany them in their visits to some
other courts in Central Europe before returning home.

He first went to Vienna. He still nominally preserved his incognito;
but the Emperor Leopold, who was at that time the Emperor of Germany,
gave him a very peculiar sort of reception. He came out to the door of
his antechamber to meet Peter at the head of a certain back staircase
communicating with the apartment, which was intended for his own
private use. Peter was accompanied by General Le Fort, the chief
embassador, at this interview, and he was conducted up the staircase by
two grand officers of the Austrian court--the grand chamberlain and the
grand equerry